Fans Were Floored When Paris Hilton Confessed That Everything People Know About Her Is A Lie

Yes, we’re talking about that Paris Hilton of the hotel dynasty. The wealthy heiress who was one of the original reality TV stars. The model, the occasional pop star and movie actor. But perhaps above all, she was a ditzy blonde who seemed, for all the world, to be further reinforcing that rather tired stereotype.

Nowhere was this more evident than in Paris’ smash hit TV series The Simple Life, where she made audiences cringe with her apparent lack of general knowledge or empathy. She was the archetypal spoiled rich kid with more cash than brains – or so we all thought, anyway. You see, it looks as though we may have had Paris pegged wrong from the very start.

So, what’s the truth? Well, we can say for sure that Paris was born in 1981 in New York City to Richard Hilton, a successful real-estate developer, and Kathy Richards Hilton, a socialite. And as practically anyone will tell you, the reality TV star and her clan are exceptionally rich. Paris’ bombshell isn’t about any of those things, though.

Why are the family so wealthy? Well, it’s all thanks to Paris’ great-grandfather Conrad, who snapped up his first hotel in Cisco, Texas, in 1919. Fast-forward 100 years, and the Hilton brand is worldwide and world-renowned, synonymous with luxury and decadence. It’s naturally been a bit of a money-spinner, too, for Conrad’s descendants.

And we can say for definite that Paris has some starry relatives. Her hotel chain-founding great-grandpa was briefly wed to Zsa Zsa Gabor, while her great-uncle Conrad Nicholson Hilton Jr. was married for a short time to movie icon Elizabeth Taylor. Talk about a glamorous family tree!

There are even actors closer to home. Two of Paris’ aunts – Kim and Kyle Richards – are stars of the small screen and veterans of reality TV, having appeared in The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. It’s hardly surprising, then, that Paris has similarly courted a career in the limelight.

And great things were expected of Paris. That’s clear from the childhood nickname bestowed upon her by her maternal grandmother: “Star.” But was the secret Paris shared to do with her education? Not quite. It’s still true that she attended Marywood-Palm Valley School in California and the Dwight School in New York.

Fame beckoned, though, and along with her sister, Nicky, Paris became somewhat of a stalwart of red-carpet events in her later teenage years. Before long, she also began securing modeling jobs. One of the agencies she signed up to, actually, was Donald Trump’s T Management.

And campaigns for brands such as Tommy Hilfiger and Christian Dior further enhanced Paris’ growing reputation. Her constant presence at VIP parties and glamorous events helped in honing her image, too. Snaps of the heiress living it up were plastered across gossip magazines, making her one to watch.

Soon, Paris was becoming arguably the most famous “it girl” in the world. She was also the woman on the arm of, among others, Leonardo DiCaprio and boxer Oscar de la Hoya. And throughout it all, she continued to lead the most lavish of lifestyles – one that no doubt many dreamed of emulating.

Yet Paris’ breakout year – for good and for bad – was undoubtedly 2003. It was then, you see, that the socialite found herself at the center of a media storm. The reason? There was an unauthorized sex tape out there, captured by ex-boyfriend Rick Salomon – and seemingly released without Paris’ knowledge.

The video – which eventually became marketed as One Night in Paris – was quickly shared around the internet. Paris fought to have the footage suppressed, only reaching an out-of-court settlement with Salomon in 2005. But any fears that she may have had about the tape derailing her career proved entirely unfounded.

Just a matter of weeks after the sensitive footage came to light, Hilton made a second – and rather more planned – appearance on screens. This particular starring role was in a reality TV series called The Simple Life. And as it turns out, it was the very vehicle the heiress needed to catapult her to household name status.

The premise of The Simple Life was, well, simple. Two celebrity daughters – Hilton and her best friend Nicole Richie, daughter of singer Lionel – were filmed taking on what could be termed “blue-collar” jobs. And although the pair’s antics were often watch-behind-your-fingers cringeworthy, they were often also hilarious. The show, produced by FOX, was somewhat inevitably a smash hit.

How could the success of The Simple Life be explained? Well, for a start, it aired during the early days of reality TV, making this kind of warts-and-all show a relatively novel concept. And you couldn’t help but laugh – or squirm – at some of the completely ridiculous comments made by its stars. To put it simply, they didn’t seem all that bright.

Writing in The Guardian in September 2020, Michelle Kambasha summed up the appeal of The Simple Life and what it meant for Hilton. The journalist explained, “[Hilton and Richie] comically navigate the blue-collar world by doing manual jobs such as farm work. With quotes such as ‘What does that mean, soup kitchen?’ and ‘Do they sell Marc Jacobs or Chanel at this grocery store?’ Hilton’s brand, as a searingly rich snob, was created.”

That’s how a lot of us know Paris. But is that really her? Well, playing up to this stereotype certainly got her noticed. It also helped her branch out into a music career and small roles in minor movies such as The Hillz and Raising Helen. There was also her first book, Confessions of an Heiress: A Tongue-in-Cheek Peek behind the Pose.

Further reality TV followed, too, including Paris Hilton’s My New BFF and The World According to Paris. And the scandals that dogged the star only brought her further column inches. Remember when she served jail time? She was put behind bars after being caught driving under the influence and then being found guilty of violating her probation terms.

There were also a handful of drug arrests for Paris, although nothing else took her back to jail. And while she gradually moved out of the spotlight, everyone still knew who she was. Behind the scenes, she was busy, too, becoming a DJ and launching fashion collections.

But as of the late 2010s, Paris’ star had definitely faded. She was still successful and wealthy, of course, but other “it girls” had supplanted her in the public consciousness – including one Kim Kardashian. Kim, as fans know, had once been Paris’ personal assistant. Talk about the apprentice becoming the master!

And then came This is Paris. The documentary, which was released on the heiress’ own YouTube channel in 2020, threatens to shine a light on the “real” Paris. Yes, as it turns out, there were some pretty important details that the star herself had been holding back all these years – or so we were told.

Specifically, while Paris was on the promotional trail for her doc, she made a number of revelations. And perhaps most stunning of all was the assertion that she’d actually been playing a character for the last 20 years. Really? Is it possible that the Paris we saw so many times before was merely a fake?

Well, yes, if the star is to be taken at her word. “This entire time, I have been playing a character, so the world has never really truly known who I am…The real me is actually someone who is brilliant. And I’m not a dumb blonde. I’m just really good at pretending to be one,” Paris explained on the Australian TV show Sunrise.

Why was Paris only just revealing the truth? She went on, “I just felt like it was time for the world to finally know who I was. I feel that I’ve been through so much, and there [are] so many misconceptions and just preconceived notions about me.” She added, “I don’t want to be remembered as some airhead. I want to be respected for the businesswoman I am.”

And in a September 2020 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Paris was equally as candid about the role she had apparently been playing for so many years. “I think if people actually know me, or they get me, that they’ll understand that [it was an act],” the heiress said.

And yet Paris understands that not everyone will believe her when she says she’s been in character all this time. “There’s other people that just want to be judgemental and have a lot of misconceptions and assume that’s who I am, so I like when people actually understand [that] obviously I know what I’m doing,” she told The Hollywood Reporter.

Playing a part helped shield Paris from criticism too, as she explained in an interview with Vogue. “When people said things that hurt my feelings, in my mind I’d say, ‘Paris, that’s you playing a character, that isn’t you. Don’t feel bad when people are saying things because people aren’t talking about you, they’re talking about what they think you are.’ That mindset protected me,” the socialite explained.

So who is the real Paris, then? “I’m a very naturally shy person, so I always get a little bit shy — especially actually being myself and not playing the character and speaking in my normal voice,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. Wait, so that wasn’t her actual voice all along? So she claims.

But whether you believe Paris or not, it’ll take quite the turnaround to revamp her image entirely. Perhaps the most enduring public opinion of the star is of the rich but ditzy blonde of The Simple Life. Then there are the countless images of her attending red-carpet events with her little dog in her handbag.

And unsurprisingly some cruel things have been written about Paris over the years. Among the most scathing remarks aimed at the heiress can be found in the 2006 Jerry Oppenheimer book House of Hilton. Oppenheimer can barely contain his disdain for Paris and other members of her family, including her grandmother “Big Kathy” Dugan.

“Big Kathy was very ambitious and obsessed with accumulating money, diamonds, fancy cars, expensive homes – and husbands to pay for them all,” Oppenheimer wrote of Paris’ maternal grandma. “Marry money and have lots of babies, that was the philosophy she sought to instill in her daughters. Sex, she believed, was one way to a man’s heart,” the author added.

It’s this philosophy – “marry money and have lots of babies” – that Paris’ mother took on board, according to Oppenheimer. In any case, Kathy married into the Hilton clan and ultimately became mom to four kids. Paris, in case you were wondering, is Kathy and Rick’s eldest child. And it is for this particular member of the Hilton clan that Oppenheimer has the most contempt.

“Paris… is the epitome of our shallow, celebrity-obsessed culture; an exhibitionist it girl best known for starring in a home-made pornographic video but essentially famous only for being famous,” Oppenheimer writes in House of Hilton. He goes on to blast her “vacuous reality TV series” and “much-derided pop and film career.” And if that wasn’t biting enough, the author claims that Paris was “especially adept at being photographed falling in and out of nightclubs.”

If Oppenheimer’s opinion of Paris seems harsh, though, then he is hardly alone. In the introduction to the heiress’ interview on Sunrise, one of the show’s anchors is similarly unflinching, saying, “[Hilton’s] name has become synonymous with being blonde, ditzy and filthy rich.” It’s hardly a glowing tribute. And even the star herself may have been hurt by the words of City Journal’ Kay S. Hymowitz. Back in 2006, Hymowitz wrote, “You don’t need to share Osama bin Laden’s view of America to see that Paris mirrors us at our contemporary worst.” Ouch.

But criticism of Paris has been going on for the best part of two decades now. Referring to the reality TV star, The New York Times’ John Leland wrote back in 2003, “Few celebrities have worked as hard at pure tabloid notoriety, or built reputations so unsullied by accomplishment or circumspection. Ms. Hilton has stood for the proposition that wealth comes with no obligations of tact, taste or civic responsibility.”

So could This is Paris turn things around? Well, as it stands, the former model arguably finds herself as the heir to a mantle once held, rightly or wrongly, by Marilyn Monroe. Marilyn, too, was stereotyped as a dizzy, blond sex object, with her smarts and career accomplishments often overlooked. And even though Paris isn’t exactly in the iconic actress’ league, it seems she similarly wants to break out of the cage that’s been created for her.

Paris has certainly been explicit about her intentions for creating the documentary, telling Vogue, “I was only going to talk about the empire I created as a businesswoman because I was sick of the misconceptions people still had about me. I don’t want to be remembered as that dumb blonde airhead from The Simple Life. That’s not who I am, and I wanted to show that, because I’m very proud of the woman I am and what I’ve created.”

And at least one journalist seems to have been won over – a little bit, anyway. In her piece for The Guardian, Michelle Kambasha wrote, “Even when [Paris] talks about her trauma, visibly in pain, I notice that for the first time, to me, [she] seems real.”

Still, discovering the “real” Paris Hilton years after she’s done, well, an awful lot, could be difficult for fans. For some, it may be a cause for celebration; for others, it may be faintly depressing. But it’s really something for people to consider for themselves. After all, Paris wouldn’t be the first celebrity to reinvent herself...