Paris Hilton Popular Books

Paris Hilton Biography & Facts

Paris Whitney Hilton (born February 17, 1981) is an American media personality, businesswoman, and socialite. Born in New York City, and raised there and in Los Angeles, she is a great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton, the founder of Hilton Hotels. She first attracted tabloid attention in the late 1990s for her presence in NYC's social scene, ventured into fashion modeling in 2000, and was proclaimed "New York's leading It Girl" in 2001. The reality television series The Simple Life (2003–2007), in which she co-starred with her friend Nicole Richie, and a leaked 2003 sex tape with her then-boyfriend Rick Salomon, later released as 1 Night in Paris (2004), catapulted her to global fame. Hilton's media ventures have included films, television series, advertisement campaigns, books, an album, standalone singles, podcasts, and video games. She achieved two New York Times Best Sellers with Confessions of an Heiress (2004) and Paris: The Memoir (2023), and a global top-10 hit with "Stars Are Blind" (2006); pursued film acting in House of Wax (2005) and Repo! the Genetic Opera (2008); ventured back into reality television with Paris Hilton's My New BFF (2008–2009), The World According to Paris (2011), Cooking with Paris (2021), and Paris in Love (2021–present); and was the subject of the documentary This Is Paris (2020). She has performed as a disc jockey since 2012. A polarizing and ubiquitous public figure, Hilton is said to have influenced the revival of the "famous for being famous" phenomenon throughout the 2000s. Critics indeed suggest that she exemplifies the celebutante—a household name through inherited wealth and lavish lifestyle. Forbes included her in its Celebrity 100 in 2004, 2005, and 2006, and ranked her as the most "overexposed" celebrity in 2006 and 2008. Hilton has parlayed her media fame into numerous business endeavors. Under her company, she has produced content for broadcast media, launched a variety of product lines, and opened a chain of self-branded boutiques worldwide, as well as an urban beach club in the Philippines. Her perfume line alone has brought in over US$2.5 billion in revenue, as of 2020. Early life Hilton was born on February 17, 1981, in New York City, to Richard Hilton, a businessman, and Kathy Hilton, a socialite and former child actress. The oldest of four children, she has one sister, Nicky Hilton (born 1983), and two brothers, Barron Hilton II (born 1989) and Conrad Hughes Hilton (born 1994). On her father's side, she is a great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton, who founded Hilton Hotels, and granddaughter of Barron Hilton. Her maternal aunts are television personalities Kim and Kyle Richards. Hilton has Norwegian, German, Italian, English, Irish, and Scottish ancestry. The family followed the Catholic faith. Hilton moved frequently in her youth, living in Beverly Hills, the Hamptons, and a suite in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan. Her relatives have described her as "very much a tomboy" who dreamed about becoming a veterinarian. Her mother recalled her saving money to buy monkeys, snakes, and goats, and once leaving "the snake out the cage [...] at the Waldorf". Hilton was raised in a very "sheltered, conservative" atmosphere; her parents were particularly strict and she was not allowed to date, wear make-up or certain types of clothes, or go to school dances. Her mother enrolled her in etiquette classes with the idea of introducing her as a debutante, which Hilton was at first reluctant to do, as she did not find it to be "real" or "natural". She described it as "very proper, very prim, almost like a Stepford wife". The family's social circle included figures such as Lionel Richie, Donald Trump, and Michael Jackson. Growing up in Los Angeles, Hilton attended the Buckley School and St. Paul the Apostle School, finishing elementary school in 1995. Her freshman year of high school (1995–96) was spent at the Marywood-Palm Valley School in Rancho Mirage, California. In 1996, Hilton and her family left California for the East Coast. At 15, she attended Professional Children's School. She skated and played ice hockey while in high school. In New York City, Hilton had a rebellious youth, regularly skipping classes and sneaking out to parties. On this period, Kathy remarked: "Let's put it this way—it got very out of control and I was scared for her. And my husband was very scared for her. And, you know, those nightclubs go on all night." Her parents eventually sent her, then 16, to a series of boarding schools for emotionally troubled teens, including Provo Canyon School, where she says that she was mentally and physically abused by the staff. In her documentary This Is Paris, Hilton and other former students from Provo Canyon School recall the abuses they faced, including solitary confinement, forced medication, restraint, battery and strangulation. She attended Provo for 11 months and was released in early 1999, around the time she turned 18. She then attended the Dwight School before dropping out a few months later. "She knew no one at [Dwight]", said her mother in an interview, while a classmate described her as "sort of more sophisticated. She was different from everybody else". She later earned a GED certification. Career Social scene and modeling (1996–2002) With mother Kathy and sister Nicky, Hilton modeled as a child at charity events, graced the May 4, 1988, cover of the weekly magazine Beverly Hills 213, and made an uncredited appearance in the fantasy film Wishman (1992). After relocating to NYC in 1996, Hilton developed a reputation as a socialite through appearances at nightclubs and high-profile events. She has recalled getting offers to show up in nightclubs as early as she was 16, when she obtained a counterfeited identity document in order to gain access to events. Her antics and late-night persona soon started attracting the spotlight from local tabloids. After becoming familiar with Paris and Nicky's social circle, Jason Binn, publisher of Hamptons magazine, stated: "They're little stars. They've become names. To them it's like a job. I believe they wake up every morning and say, 'O.K., where am I supposed to be tonight?'." That lifestyle conflicted with her family's conservative background and proved too "rebellious" for the young Paris, whose parents sent her to a series of boarding schools until she turned 18. Hilton resumed public appearances shortly afterwards, and attended the NYC premiere of Cruel Intentions in March 1999 with Nicky. A New Yorker profile by Bob Morris, published in October that year, described her and her sister as "the littlest socialites in town [...] Without even a smile, they can breeze past the velvet ropes at Moomba or get a seat at Le Bilboquet". Businessman George J. Maloof Jr., for instance, flew Hilton in his private jet and paid her to attend the Palms Casino Resort opening in Las Vegas in November 2001. Inspired by designers Patricia Field and Betsey Johnson, Hilton .... Discover the Paris Hilton popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Paris Hilton books.