Paris Hilton

I always give memoirs 5/5 but I particularly liked Ms. Hilton telling me her story in her own words.
She’s not the somewhat ditzy character she portrays. Although a party girl and lover of after hours shenanigans, her ADHD is sort of to blame. The extremes her parents went to in order to straighten her out, although thought to be helpful was rather cultish and nothing short of child abuse.
Without even a high school diploma, she’s equipped with a business mind and knows how best to sell show more her brand.
Highly Recommend show less

Rating: 3 Stars

Best for:
Anyone who paid any attention to Paris Hilton in the early 2000s. My guess is you probably don’t know the whole story.

In a nutshell:
Paris Hilton - known as a party girl who lived it up with Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan - shares her story.

Worth quoting:
“Terrible things can go fuck themselves.”

Why I chose it:
It’s a celebrity memoir written by a woman. Like, obviously I’m going to read it.

What it left me feeling:
Conflicted.

Review:
Well that was unexpected. show more

Paris Hilton and I are basically the same age, and so while I didn’t follow her life (never watched her TV shows or listened to her music), I lived in the world and was aware of pop culture enough to be familiar with her story. Or so I thought. I’m certain that the less kinder me of my 20s probably cracked a joke or two about her intelligence or her style. It’s wild to think how that was just how people made money; paparazzi photos, gossip websites following, reporting on, and ultimately making as much fun of famous young women as possible. We’ve recently seen people acknowledge it when it comes to Britney Spears.

Hilton comes across as someone who is sweet and who just didn’t quite fit into how society wants people to live their lives. Obviously she is super rich and comes from a wildly famous and successful family — and she never pretends that isn’t the case. But the book talks about how her undiagnosed ADHD made so much of her childhood difficult, and how she had things she wanted to do that conflicted with what her parents wanted for her. Of course, she was very young when these conflicts arose, so its understandable that her parents were distraught at their inability to keep their daughter safe, as Paris was constantly sneaking out.

But what her parents did next is what many parents who believe they are at their wits end do: they sent her away to the equivalent of reform school. I’d heard of such places before, where they come and literally kidnap children in the middle of the night. It’s criminal, frankly, and while I cannot claim to understand what it is like to be the parent of a teen who is in need of help the parents can’t give, paying someone to tear their child (especially a teenage girl, given the fears of sexual assault so many live with) from their bed in the middle of the night by masked men is just unfathomable to me.

About 1/3 or more of the book focuses on Paris’s year at this horrible reform boarding school. The treatment she underwent - and that children are still undergoing now - is so vile, heartless, and deeply fucked up. Beatings, sexual assaults. Staff lying to her parents about what really was going on at the school. Staff forcing their captives to turn on each other, hurling venom and cruelty at them nightly. I just … I can’t imagine how people survive that, and she did, and that trauma has impacted her entire adult life. I appreciate her sharing it with the readers, and I think it’s wonderful that she is advocating for legislation to shut down these schools and better regulate others.

Paris also talks about her life as a party and it girl of course, and at times uses language I find jarring to hear. Referring to one’s self as an icon and girl boss unironically isn’t really something I’m supportive of, but she embraces that part of herself. She also has no qualms kindly calling out those who profited from her challenging times. Like, famous people who made jokes or wrote songs about the sex tape that she most definitely did not want released, and that was recorded when she was a teenager.

She also acknowledges her own faults and role she played in things. She apologizes for transgressions in her youth, including a culturally inappropriate Halloween costume. At times it feels like she’s not entirely taking full responsibility for her actions - her DUI from ‘one margarita’ comes to mind - but even there she isn’t flippant and seems to be offering explanations as opposed to excuses.

I absolutely cannot relate to Hilton in most aspects of her life. She is someone who is pushing NFTs and cypto hard, and I find that concerning. When she speaks of her business and work in ‘the metaverse’ I definitely find it off-putting, especially as the language choices sound a bit like a parody of what a Harvard MBA would say to try to impress someone on a date. It’s a world I both don’t understand and don’t think is a net positive, especially as I don’t think people should be allowed to acquire hundreds of millions of dollars of wealth.

There are so many stories out there, and I’m sure many people think it odd to spend my time listening to this one, but I also think its a great example of how what we read online and what is shared with us about anyone — famous or not — is likely nothing close to the full story.

Recommend to a Friend / Keep / Donate it / Toss it:
Donate it show less

I was very excited when I heard Paris Hilton was coming out with her own memoir. I have long liked her as a public figure and put this on hold at the library as soon as I had the chance. I had always seen Paris as someone who came from an extreme privilege, was seen as just a dumb rich girl, but who used it to make her own money and business. After watching her documentary in 2020, I saw she was even more than that, and am very excited to see her use her platform to make true and real change show more in our world.
If I pitched you her documentary or the portions of her book about her treatment within the Provo school, you'd assume I'm talking about a horror novel. But this is a real life thing, that I couldn't help thinking 'if this can happen to someone such as Paris Hilton, how much worse is it for people such as myself?' It's horrifying this type of system exists, and I am so glad she is actively fighting this and working towards having governmental changes to this effect.
Yes, I do recognize Paris has participated in problematic behavior and speech, and I do wish she had spoken more on it, but I do believe she's actively trying to be a better person, and I think she does show that through her actions (I will note, I am not of the groups she has made comments against or offended, so I cannot absolve her of her past actions. I am just noting that I wish she had spoken more about it and currently does seem to try to do better).
Sure, we get some of the iconic Paris silly moments, and the pop ins from the celebrities she's surrounded herself with or have been around her, but in general I really enjoyed listening to this, narrated by Paris herself. show less

Whoah.

I was never planning to read this. I dismissed it when I first heard about it. And continued to do so. Then I heard or read somewhere that it was really, really good. My first thought was ‘no way’. Then it kept popping up in my feeds or in Amazon and I finally decided to give it a shot.

I am so glad I did. This book was powerful. She may have one of the most well known names around, but the experiences she has had to overcome are hard to comprehend.

I am so impressed with what she show more has built for herself and even more that she is willing to embrace the hard conversations and ridicule and speak out about the things she went through to help keep others from suffering the same fate.

I listened to this as I read so it was like her telling her own story, which added a lot of depth. I highly recommend this one. show less