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Born in New York City, New York,
Hilton is the oldest of four children of Richard and Kathy Hilton. Paris
has a younger sister, Nicky, and younger brothers Barron Hilton II, and
Conrad Hilton III.
On the maternal side of her family, Paris is a niece of two child stars of
the 1970s, Kim Richards and Kyle Richards. Paris was related by marriage
to Nicole Richie's godmother, Nancy Davis, when Nancy's brother, Greg, was
married to Kim Richards.
Paris' 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. When Conrad
Hilton died in 1979, he left nothing in his will to his children or other
descendants. Barron Hilton contested his father's decision and prevailed
in court in 1988. On her paternal side, Paris is related through marriage
to Zsa Zsa Gabor and Elizabeth Taylor.
Paris moved between several exclusive homes in her youth, including a
suite in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan, Beverly Hills, and the
Hamptons. She attended Marywood-Palm Valley School in Rancho Mirage,
California her freshman year of high school; Dwight School in New York for
her sophomore and junior years; then a few months at Canterbury School in
New Milford, Connecticut before dropping out. Hilton eventually earned a
GED.
The value of Paris' inheritance was estimated at between $30 and $50
million.
Hilton began modeling as a child, appearing first in charity events. At
19, she signed with Donald Trump's modeling agency, T Management. Hilton
has worked with modeling agencies such as 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
19-year-old socialite, being identified as "New York's leading It Girl"
whose fame was beginning to "extend beyond the New York tabloids". She has
since appeared in several magazines, including the April 2004 issue of
Maxim magazine.
Hilton gained significant notoriety when she co-starred along with Nicole
Richie, the adopted daughter of Lionel Richie, in the Fox reality series
The Simple Life, which premiered on December 2, 2003. During the course of
the season, Hilton and Richie lived with a family on their farm in rural
Altus, Arkansas. The show, which was a major success for Fox, featured the
two working at a variety of blue-collar jobs, making out with local men,
and performing menial tasks associated with farm life. The pair's
inability to appreciate or engage in the "simple life" was a central theme
on the series.
After the success of the first season, The Simple Life was followed by two
more seasons on Fox. The network canceled the show after a dispute between
Hilton and Richie, but the show was subsequently aired by E! Entertainment
Television for a fourth season. A fifth season premiered in May 2007 on E!
with talks of a sixth season to follow suit.
Hilton also amassed other television credits, guest-starring in episodes
of The O.C., The George Lopez Show, Las Vegas, American Dreams and
Veronica Mars. Furthermore, she appeared in several music videos,
including It Girl by John Oates and Just Lose It by Eminem.
Moreover, Hilton made cameo appearances in several films, notably
Zoolander (2001), Wonderland (2003), and The Cat In The Hat (2003). She
landed minor and supporting roles in the feature films Nine Lives (2002),
Raising Helen (2004), The Hillz (2004), and House of Wax (2005). 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". 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! (2006) and
Bottom's Up (2006).
She is currently scheduled to appear as the lead in several upcoming
theatrical releases, including an as yet untitled superhero movie
involving Stan Lee, and as the lead character in a romantic comedy called
The Hottie and the Nottie. Plans for an eponymous cartoon series following
the animated life of Paris, her sister Nicky, and her dog Tinkerbell are
also in production. As of August 2007, Hilton is part of the cast of Repo!
the Genetic Opera, scheduled to begin filming in September 2007. Also
joining her will be Nivek Ogre (aka Kevin Graham Ogilvie) - the lead
singer of Skinny Puppy.
Hilton was engaged to fashion model Jason Shaw from mid-2002 to early
2003. On May 29, 2005, she announced her engagement to Paris Latsis, a
Greek shipping heir; the engagement was called off five months later.
Thereafter, she began dating another Greek shipping heir, Stavros Niarchos
III, but in May 2006, Hilton publicist Elliot Mintz informed the press
Paris and Stavros had broken up. In an attempt to rediscover herself,
Hilton imposed a ban on sexual activity for one year starting in July
2006. She told 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."
In July 2006, Hilton was photographed kissing her best male friend Brandon
Davis, the man who "ranted against" Lindsay Lohan on national television,
five days later.
In January 2007, Hilton's private life again created headlines with the
launch of ParisExposed.com, a website that featured images of personal and
medical documents, video, and other private material, allegedly obtained
when the contents of a storage locker rented by Hilton were auctioned off
due to lack of payment. CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 discussed footage
obtained from the website which features Hilton using several ethnic
slurs. On February 3, 2007 Hilton obtained a temporary injunction against
ParisExposed.com, closing down the website for a short period of time
before the site went back online.
In a June 11, 2007 phone interview from jail, Hilton told Barbara Walters
that while serving time in jail, God has given her a new chance, and that
she will no longer "act dumb." |
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I don't want to be known as
the grand-daughter of the Hiltons. I want to be known as Paris.
I went to Wal-Mart for the first time. I always thought they sold
wallpaper. I didn't realise it has everything. You can get anything
you want there for really, really cheap.
I think the biggest misconception about me is that I'm this spoiled
brat. But I'm not. I'm the total opposite.
If you have a beautiful face you don't need big fake boobs to get
anyone's attention.
I desperately hate one thing about my body. I have size 11 feet.
Yeah, it sucks, because I see all these super cute shoes in the
stores: Guccis, YSLs, Manolos. And when they bring them out in my
size, they look like clown shoes.
People think I'm stupid. But I'm smarter than most people.
The Backstreet Boys were so ten years ago. Whatever.
No matter what a woman looks like, if she's confident, she's sexy.
The only person who really knows me is Nicky (Nicky Hilton). And not
many people know this, but my sister is one of the funniest people
you'll ever meet.
[Newsweek interview, June 2005]: I thought it was cute to play a
dumb blonde. On TV, I do it because it's funny. I consider myself a
businesswoman and a brand. I don't enjoy going out anymore. It's
such a pain. It's everyone saying, "Let's do a deal! Can I have a
picture?" I'm just, like, "These people are such losers. I can't
believe I used to love doing this".
I have always had a voice and always known I could sing, but I was
too shy to let it come out. I think that is the hardest thing you
can do, to sing in front of people. When I finally let go and did
it, I realised it is what I am most talented at and what I love to
do the most.
Once you hear the music, you can't knock it. I go to clubs and I
play it and don't tell anyone it's me. If everyone knew "This is
Paris Hilton", they'd stop and judge.
I've had a lot of stalker incidents and I usually can handle them,
but the scariest one was when a guy turned up at my dad's office and
said he was my fiancé.
I'm the nicest, most loyal person in the world when it comes to my
friends. I would really do almost anything to make sure they're
happy.But I only want friends who are there for me just like I'm
there for them. Otherwise it's too painful.
I brought Nicole (Nicole Richie) on to _"Simple Life, The" (2003)
and, all of a sudden, she became this different person. She dropped
her old friends and she's someone else.
Nicole (Nicole Richie) and I are not enemies, but I can't be friends
with someone who doesn't want good things for me.
I'm serious about acting and I have a bunch of movies lined up. I
think I can become a good actress. It's something I want to prove to
myself and to other people. I feel I'm getting better and feeling
more confident about what I can do as an actress.
There's nobody in the world like me. I think every decade has an
iconic blonde, like Marilyn Monroe or Princess Diana and, right now,
I'm that icon.
I can't walk the streets. It's too embarrassing. I don't want to go
out anymore. I don't want to party.
I take my dog Tinkerbell seriously. I take my job seriously. But I
don't take myself all that seriously.
I talk in that baby talk voice when I'm on TV, it's a put on.
"One of my heroes is Barbie. She may not do anything, but she always
looks great doing it."
"I haven't seen it, but when people copy you, that's like the most
flattering thing, so whatever people can say, I just laugh about it.
It doesn't matter to me." (On "South Park: Stupid Spoiled Whore
Video Playset (#8.12)" (2004))
"The best thing about having your own nightclub is that everything's
free and you can tell the DJ to play whatever you want."
"The root of all evil is not money, it's boredom."
'"If you want to make the camera your friend, pretend it's a cute
boy!" |
