Paris Whitney Hilton (born February 17, 1981) is an
American socialite,
heiress,
media personality,
model,
singer,
author,
fashion designer and
actress.
Hilton is best known for her appearance on the television series
The Simple Life, her several minor film roles (most notably her role in the horror film
House of Wax in 2005), her 2004
tongue-in-cheek autobiography,
[Barnes and Noble: "Confessions of an Heiress: A Tongue-in-Chic Peek behind the Pose"] her 2006 music album
Paris, and her work in
modeling. As a result of several legal incidents, Hilton also served a widely publicized sentence in a
Los Angeles County jail in 2007. She is also known for her controversial appearance in a
sex tape in 2003.
Early life and background
Born in
New York City, Hilton is the oldest of four children of
Richard and
Kathy Hilton (née Avanzino). She has a sister,
Nicky, and brothers, Conrad and
Barron.
On the
maternal side of her family, she is a niece of two
child stars of the 1970s,
Kim and
Kyle Richards. Hilton was related by marriage to
Nicole Richie's godmother, Nancy Davis, when Nancy's brother, Greg, was married to
Kim Richards. Hilton's paternal grandparents are hotel chairman
Barron Hilton, and his wife, the former Marilyn Hawley; Barron Hilton's parents were
Hilton Hotels founder
Conrad Hilton and his first wife, Mary Barron.
Hilton moved between several exclusive homes in her youth, including a suite in the
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on
Manhattan,
Beverly Hills, and
the Hamptons. As a child she was good friends with other socialites as
Nicole Richie and
Kim Kardashian. She attended her freshman year of high school at the
Marywood-Palm Valley School in
Rancho Mirage,
California followed by a short time at
Convent of the Sacred Heart (which she attended with
Lady GaGa) and the
Dwight School in
New York for her sophomore and junior years. She was then transferred to the
Canterbury Boarding School, in
New Milford, Connecticut where she was a member of the
ice hockey team.
[www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56168] However, in early 1999, she was expelled for violating the school rules.
Hilton later earned her
GED.
In December 2007, Hilton's grandfather
Barron Hilton pledged 97 percent of his estate to a
charitable organization founded by his father, the
Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. An immediate pledge of $1.2 billion was made, with a further $1.1 billion due after his death. He cited his father's actions as the motivation for his pledge. According to reports, the potential inheritance of his grandchildren is sharply diminished.
Career
Hilton has worked as a model, actress, singer, and engaged in occasional business pursuits.
According to
Forbes Magazine, she earned approximately $2 million in 2003–2004,
[Paris Hilton ranked 55 among The Top 100 Celebrities In 2005] $6.5 million in 2004–2005,
and $7 million in 2005–2006.
As a model
Hilton began modeling as a child, initially at charity events.
When she was 19, she signed with
Donald Trump's modeling agency, T Management.
Hilton has also worked with
Ford Models in New York,
Models 1 Agency in
London, Nous Model Management in Los Angeles, and
Premier Model Management in London. She has appeared in numerous advertising campaigns, including
Iceberg Vodka,
GUESS,
Tommy Hilfiger,
Christian Dior, and
Marciano. In 2001, Hilton began to develop a reputation as a socialite, being identified as "New York's leading It Girl" whose fame was beginning to "extend beyond the New York
tabloids".
She has appeared in several magazines, including the April 2004 issue of
Maxim.
[Paris Hilton's girl gallery on Maxim.com]
As a media personality
Film
Hilton has made
cameo appearances in several films, notably
Zoolander,
Wonderland, and
The Cat In The Hat. She landed minor and supporting roles in the feature films
Nine Lives,
Raising Helen,
The Hillz, and
House of Wax. Her role as Paige Edwards in
House of Wax won the
Teen Choice Award for "Best Scream" and earned her a nomination for "Choice Breakout Performance – Female".
[[1] "Teen Choice Awards 2005 nominees and winners"] (It also won her the 2005
Razzie for "Worst Supporting Actress" at the
2005 Golden Raspberry Awards.)
[ 2005 Golden Raspberry Award Nominees and Winners on 06 March 2006] She also earned a nomination for "Best Frightened Performance" at the
2006 MTV Movie Awards. She landed her first lead roles in 2006 with the
straight-to-DVD releases
National Lampoon's Pledge This! and
Bottoms Up. She plays the Hottie in the
box office bomb romantic comedy The Hottie and the Nottie, released in 2008. She also had a minor
cameo appearance as herself in
An American Carol.
More recently, Hilton plays
Amber Sweet, the surgery- and painkiller-addicted daughter of a biotech magnate in the goth/rock musical
Repo! The Genetic Opera. Critics have responded positively to her performance in the film, in which she sings and acts. In an interview
Repo! director
Darren Lynn Bousman revealed that he had originally refused to audition Hilton for the role of Amber Sweet. "I broke down," says Bousman, "and I met with her, and immediately she charmed everyone in the room."
In the same interview, Bousman also revealed that Hilton was so keen to get the part that she had the script smuggled in to her during her much publicized stint in a Los Angeles jail, and used her time inside to work on her role.
Television
Hilton co-starred with her friend
Nicole Richie in the
Fox reality series The Simple Life, which premiered on December 2, 2003.
The Simple Life ran for three seasons on Fox. The show was cancelled by Fox after a dispute between Hilton and Richie, but it was subsequently aired by
E! Entertainment Television for the fourth and fifth seasons.
[Paris and Nicole to serve as camp counselors] Despite talks of a sixth season,
[Simple Life Probably Picked For A Sixth Season on June 28th, 2007] the series finished its run at the end of the fifth season.
[The Simple Life Cancelled on July 30, 2007] In March 2008, it was reported that Hilton would star in a new
MTV reality series tentatively titled
Paris Hilton's My New BFF, about her looking for a new best friend.
The series premiered on
September 30,
2008.
Hilton has also guest-starred in episodes of the popular tv-show
The O.C.,
The George Lopez Show,
Las Vegas,
American Dreams,
Dogg After Dark, and
Veronica Mars. Furthermore, she appeared in several
music videos, including "
It Girl" by
John Oates and "
Just Lose It" by
Eminem. Planning is underway for an eponymous
cartoon series following the animated life of Hilton, her sister Nicky, and her dog
Tinkerbell,
[Paris Hilton's 2D adventures on 21-03-2006] which began filming in September 2007. In April 2008, she guest starred on the
My Name is Earl episode "
I Won't Die with a Little Help from My Friends".
On 29 January 2009,
Paris Hilton's British Best Friend, began airing on ITV2 in England. The second season of
Paris Hilton's My New BFF premiered on June 2, 2009. In June 2009, Hilton shot "
Paris Hilton's Dubai BFF".
[www.variety.com/article/VR1118004397.html?categoryid=19&cs=1] Runner-up of the British series Kat McKenzie died on July 3, 2009 of a suspected overdose.
[www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/2518348/Paris-TV-pal-dies-aged-25.html]
Hilton guest-starred in the fifth episode of
Supernaturals fifth season. "Paris Hilton is playing a demonic creature that takes the form of... Paris Hilton," creator and executive producer Eric Kripke said in a statement. "It'll be a fun, irreverent episode and we here at Supernatural
are thrilled that Paris agreed to do it."Recording artist
Hilton founded
Heiress Records, a sub-label of
Warner Bros. Records, in 2004 and released her self-titled debut album,
Paris, under that label on August 22, 2006. Although the album reached number six on the
Billboard 200 for a week, its total sales volume has been low
[ ]
- but the first single "
Stars Are Blind" was a top ten hit in 17 countries.
Allmusic commented that the album was "more fun than anything released by
Britney Spears or
Jessica Simpson, and a lot fresher, too." On the whole, critical reception was mixed.
[Discography - Paris Hilton - Paris CD/DVD Billboard.com] On July 16, 2007 Hilton confirmed that she was working on a new album with producer
Scott Storch.
[Paris Hilton is already working on a second album. X17 Online][New Paris Hilton Album in the Works AOL News][Paris Singing a New Tune...or 10 E! News] In a recent interview with MTV, Hilton decided that her second album is going to be a dance album. She stated that she "loves
Bob Sinclar" and wants to create dance-music vibe. Hilton has installed a professional recording studio in her house to work on the album.
On September 30, 2008, Hilton premiered her song "My BFF" on
KIIS-FM with host
Ryan Seacrest. It is the first single from her as yet untitled second studio album
[Hilton, Paris (September 30, 2008). on KIIS-FM by host Ryan Seacrest. Retrieved on October 03, 2008.] and the theme song of her show
Paris Hilton's My New BFF.
Hilton stated that she finished working on the album.
A second song "Paris For President" was released along with a music video late October 2008.
Paris Hilton can also be heard singing on the soundtrack to the musical
Repo! The Genetic Opera. In an interview, the director,
Darren Lynn Bousman, praised her vocal skills. When talking about Paris' vocal audition process for the role, Bouseman said, "We gave her some music and said, 'You have one day to come back and perform this.' She came back the next day, memorized everything, was pitch-perfect, I mean she was awesome."
.
As an author
In the autumn of 2004, Hilton released an
autobiographical book,
Confessions of an Heiress: A Tongue-in-Chic Peek Behind the Pose, co-written by Merle Ginsberg, which includes full color photographs of her and her advice on life as an heiress. Hilton reportedly received a $100,000 advance payment for this book. Some in the media panned the writing as amateurish, and the book was parodied by
Robert Mundell on
The Late Show with David Letterman. The book became a
New York Times bestseller. Hilton followed it up with a designer diary, also with Ginsberg, called
Your Heiress Diary: Confess It All to Me.
On September 2009, Hilton's quote: "Dress cute wherever you go, life is too short to blend in" has been added to
The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations.
Standing as a celebrity
She denied proclaiming herself as the "iconic blonde of the decade" such as
Princess Diana and
Marilyn Monroe in the May 2007 issue of
Harper's Bazaar.
[We'll always have Paris." timesonline.co.uk.] She appeared in the 2007
Guinness World Records as the world's "Most Overrated Celebrity".
[Maher, Kevin. "The Paris-bashing should stop here." The Times (London). March 20, 2008, p. 16. Retrieved on May 13, 2008. "Guinness World Records has her as the World's Most Overrated Celebrity."][Gumbel, Andrew. "Paris Hilton is granted a shorter sentence — if she behaves herself." The Independent (London). May 18, 2007, p. 1. Retrieved on May 13, 2008. "She is set to appear in this year's Guinness World Records as the world's 'most overrated celebrity'."] In a poll conducted by the
Associated Press and
AOL, Hilton was voted the second "Worst Celebrity Role Model of 2006", behind
Britney Spears.
Critics suggest that Hilton epitomizes the title of
famous for being famous;
[ScoreboardMedia: "The Paris Hilton Rule: Famous For Being Famous"] echoing that sentiment, the
Associated Press conducted what they called an experiment in February 2007, trying not to report on Hilton for a whole week.
2008 parody Presidential campaign
On August 6, 2008 Hilton appeared in a 1 minute 50 second long video online,
"Paris Hilton Responds to McCain Ad", directed by
Adam McKay and posted on the
Funny or Die website. The video featured Hilton in a
parody advertisement, and was made in response to a television
campaign advert "Celeb", by the
2008 John McCain presidential campaign. In
Celeb, McCain briefly compared his rival
Barack Obama to that of celebrities such as Hilton and
Britney Spears, going on to question his readiness to lead and criticize
his energy policy.
In what
The Washington Post opined "might just be her best acting role yet,"
Hilton appears in the video wearing a
leopard print
swimsuit.
She starts out by suggesting that her personal mention by McCain means that she must now be a candidate in the
presidential race, and goes on to mock McCain, and critique the expected qualities and lifestyle of a celebrity in comparison to that of a
US president. In a 30 second segment, in the style of an
academic speaker, Paris compares and contrasts the policies of McCain and Obama for solving the US
energy crisis, and goes on to propose a 'compromise solution' combining elements of both.
The video received 7 million views in two days garnering worldwide press coverage, and drew both written and verbal media response from both campaigns. The merits and drawbacks of the 'Paris compromise solution' with regard to energy policy, as well as its contrast to the adversarial political campaigns, generated multiple comments from US political commentators, as well as
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and
Congressman Michael Burgess.
Continuing the spoof campaign, in October, Hilton featured in a second parody video posted on Funny or Die, the 2 minute 20 second long
"Paris Hilton Gets Presidential with Martin Sheen", alongside Hollywood actor
Martin Sheen, with his son, actor
Charlie Sheen, appearing in a cameo role. Hilton, heavily made up and in a green evening dress, interviews Martin Sheen in a kitchen, discussing various political issues, seeking his advice from his days playing a fictional President on
The West Wing.
Products and endorsements
Hilton helped design a collection of purses for
Japanese label
Samantha Thavasa, and also a jewelry line for
Amazon.com.
[Paris Hilton creates jewelry line Msnbc.msn.com]
In 2004, Hilton was involved in the creation of a perfume line by Parlux Fragrances. Originally set to be a small release, high demand led to a wider release before December 2004. The launch was followed by a 47 percent increase in sales of Parlux products, predominantly due to sales of the Hilton-branded perfume.
[Form 10-Q for PARLUX FRAGRANCES INC Biz.Yahoo.com] After the success of Hilton's perfume, Parlux Fragrances released several more perfumes with her name, including fragrances for men.
[Celebrity fragrance watch: Paris Hilton & Andy Roddick Nowsmellthis.com] Paris Hilton launched a new fragrance in October 2007, called
Can Can. This is her fourth women's fragrance after
Paris Hilton,
Just Me, and
Heiress. During the month of November 2008, Paris Hilton released her fifth fragrance for women called,
Fairy Dust. In July 2009, her sixth fragrance for women
Siren was launched.
In January 2007, Hilton released the DreamCatchers line of hair extensions in partnership with Hair Tech International.
[Dreamcatchers.com accessdate 2007-08-19] In early August 2007, Hilton signed a licensing agreement with Antebi for a signature footwear line, "Paris Hilton Footware", featuring stilettos, platforms, flats, wedges, and a sports collection, expected to reach stores in 2008.
[Paris Hilton Inks Deal with Antebi Footwear Group. August 1, 2007. accessdate 2007-08-19] In mid August 2007, Hilton launched a line of tops, dresses, coats, and jeans at Kitson boutique in Los Angeles.
[Hilton's clothing launch sparks L.A. frenzy. August 16, 2007. accessdate 2007-08-19]
In 2005, Hilton lent her name to a chain of
nightclubs owned by Fred Khalilian and known as
Club Paris. This association ended in January 2007 after she had failed to attend several scheduled promotional appearances.
[Hall, Sarah. Paris Bounced from Club. E! News. January 5, 2007.]
In December 2007, Hilton posed nude, covered in gold paint, to promote "Rich
Prosecco", a canned version of an
Italian sparkling wine.
[TV Shark: "Paris Hilton Nude In Gold For Canned Champagne Ad"][Stuf.co.nz: "Nude Paris launches 'wine in a can' (+photo)"] She also traveled to Germany to promote the drink, appearing in various print ads for the product.
Personal life
[
hilton universal photo.jpg|thumb|150px|Paris Hilton in [[Munich] in 2005]]
Hilton was engaged to fashion model
Jason Shaw from mid-2002 to early 2003. In 2003-2004 she had a relationship with singer
Nick Carter. Later she was engaged to
Greek shipping heir
Paris Latsis, from May 29, 2005 to November 2005. Thereafter, she began dating another Greek shipping heir,
Stavros Niarchos III, before breaking up in May 2006. In early 2008, she was spotted with
Good Charlotte guitarist
Benji Madden and in May, Hilton announced her intention to marry Madden during interview with television talk-show host
David Letterman.
[Paris Hilton to wed Benji Madden. NEWS.com.au. Retrieved on May 12, 2008.] The two broke up in November 2008, and "remain very good friends".
[www.people.com/people/article/0,,20241470,00.html] She began dating
The Hills star
Doug Reinhardt in February 2009;
[Paris Calls Doug Reinhardt 'My Sexy Boy' People.com, March 13, 2009] Hilton has also referred to her intention to marry Reinhardt, saying "He's gonna be my husband."
[Paris on Doug: He's Gonna Be My Husband Yahoo News, April 4, 2009] The couple broke up in June 2009, only to be seen back together again in August of the same year.
Hilton told
Live with Regis and Kelly: "
One-night stands are not for me. I think it's gross when you just give it up. Guys want you more, if you don't just hand it to them on a platter."
[Paris Hilton Swears off Sex]
Hilton loves small
dogs, and lives with a
Yorkshire Terrier and a female
Chihuahua named Tinkerbell. Paris Hilton is frequently seen carrying Tinkerbell (dubbed an "accessory dog") at social events and functions, and in all five seasons of television reality show
The Simple Life. In 2004, Tinkerbell "authored" a memoir,
The Tinkerbell Hilton Diaries. On August 12, 2004, Tinkerbell went missing after Hilton's apartment was burgled, and a $5,000 reward was offered for her safe return.
She was found six days later. By December 1, 2004, Tinkerbell was again spotted with Paris Hilton at various events. Hilton has also purchased a male
Chihuahua on July 25, 2007 from Pets of Bel Air in
Los Angeles.
Hilton's love for man's best friend led her to create an apparel line for dogs called Little Lily by Paris Hilton, with some of the proceeds going to benefit animal rescue. "I have 17 dogs and I like to dress them, so I started designing this clothing line and it's really cute, like dresses and jeans — everything you can imagine for humans, but for dogs," she said in an interview during
Super Bowl XLII festivities.
[Gould, Mignon A. Paris Talks Togs — People's and Pet's. 'Yes Magazine/The Arizona Republic'. February 8, 2008.] Hilton's love for her dogs led to the rumor that she wanted to be frozen with them at the
Cryonics Institute,
but Hilton denied the rumor on
The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
A homemade
sex video of Hilton and then-boyfriend
Rick Salomon was leaked on the
Internet in 2003, later released as the
DVD 1 Night in Paris despite attempted legal action. It appeared a week prior to the premiere of
The Simple Life.
On December 20, 2008 around 4:00 am, a man in a hooded sweater and gloves entered Hilton's Mulholland Estates, Los Angeles home and stole $2 million dollars worth of jewelry and other items from her bedroom. Hilton was not home at the time and nobody was injured in the home invasion. There is speculation that it was an inside job.
[$2 Million Dollars Worth of Jewelry Stolen from Paris Hilton KTLA.com, December 20, 2008]
DUI arrest and driving violations
In September 2006, Hilton was arrested and charged with
driving under the influence of alcohol with a
blood alcohol content of 0.08%, the level at which it is illegal to drive in
California. Hilton's driving license was subsequently suspended in November 2006,
and in January 2007 she pleaded
no contest to a
reckless driving charge.
Her punishment was 36 months'
probation and fines of about $1,500.
On January 15, 2007, Hilton was pulled over for driving with a suspended license and signed a document acknowledging that she was not permitted to drive.
On February 27, 2007 Hilton was caught driving 70
mph in a 35 mph zone, again with a suspended license. She also did not have her headlights on even though it was after dark.
Prosecutors in the office of the
Los Angeles City Attorney charged that those actions, along with the failure to enroll in a court-ordered alcohol education program, constituted a violation of the terms of her probation.
On May 4, 2007 Hilton was sentenced by Judge
Michael T. Sauer to 45 days in jail for violating her probation. Initially, Hilton planned to
appeal the sentence, and supported an online petition
[Online Petition at sfgate.com] asking California governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger for a
pardon.
The petition was created and organized on May 5, 2007 by Joshua Morales.
In response, various opponents started a counter-petition to maintain the sentence.
Both petitions attracted tens of thousands of signatures. Hilton later switched lawyers and dropped her plans to appeal.
Hilton was required to begin her jail term on June 5, 2007,
[Associated Press. Paris Hilton sentenced to 45 days in jail. CNN. May 5, 2007.] and checked herself into the Century Regional Detention Facility, an all-female jail in
Lynwood, California after attending the
2007 MTV Movie Awards on June 3, 2007. With credit for good behavior, it was anticipated that Hilton would only serve 23 days of her 45-day sentence;
however, in an unexpected turn of events, Los Angeles County Sheriff
Lee Baca signed orders on the morning of June 7, reassigning Hilton to 40 days of
home confinement with an
electronic monitoring device due to an unspecified medical condition.
[Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Press Conference. Fox News Channel. 2007-06-07.] Baca commented on the release saying, "My message to those who don't like celebrities is that punishing celebrities more than the average American is not justice,"
contesting that under normal circumstances, Hilton would not have served any time in jail, and he added that "The special treatment, in a sense, appears to be because of her celebrity status ... She got more time in jail".
On the same day that Hilton was released from jail, Judge
Michael Sauer summoned her to reappear in court the following morning (June 8) as the sentencing statement had explicitly said she would serve time in jail with "No work furlough. No work release. No electronic monitoring."
[Hilton Headed Back to Jail for Full Sentence] At the hearing he declined to be briefed by Hilton's attorney in private chambers on the nature of her condition and sent her back to jail to serve out her original 45-day sentence. Upon hearing the sentence, Hilton shouted, "It's not right!" and started screaming, requesting to hug her mother who was present in the courtroom.
[Paris Hilton going back to jail][Hilton Starts, Ends Week Behind Bars] Concern about Hilton's condition led to her being moved to the medical wing of the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles, and she was moved back to the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood on June 13.
[Paris Hilton ordered to LA jail's medical wing]
While in jail, Hilton was influenced by the clergyman minister Marty Angelo: Hilton referred to starting a "new beginning" during her interview with talk show host
Larry King on June 28, 2007, two days after being released from jail,
and quoted from Angelo's autobiography, entitled
Once Life Matters: A New Beginning. On June 9, 2007, Marty Angelo petitioned Sauer,
asking to serve out the remainder of Hilton's jail sentence if the judge would release her to an alternative treatment program,
but the petition was turned down.
Filmography
Discography
Albums
Singles
From
Paris:
Other songs:
Bibliography
