Celebrity3 min(s) read
Paris Hilton's new memoir is continuing to shine an entirely new light on the iconic star.
From candidly opening up about the leaking of her infamous private tape to sharing traumatic stories from her past, the businesswoman and heiress is repeatedly showing that there's much more to her than meets the eye.
It's safe to say that many people have long written Hilton off as a predictable "ditzy blonde" following her reality TV beginnings. In fact, if you cast your mind back to 2004, I bet many people weren't too surprised to see the Simple Life star gracing the cover of the men's entertainment magazine Playboy.
However, as the 42-year-old new mom has claimed in her new memoir, the socialite never had a say in the matter - and, as she puts it: "No one was terribly surprised to see me on the cover of Playboy. Except me."
Writing in her new book, Paris: The Memoir, the 'Stars Are Blind' singer recalls living with two Playboy bunnies in the year 2000. As a result, she would often attend parties at the Playboy mansion, where she says she was first approached by Playboy founder Hugh Hefner.
Per Insider, which shared excerpts of the book, Hilton recalls how Hefner "really wanted [her] to do a Playboy cover."
"He kept offering me more and more money, saying I wouldn't have to be totally naked, just topless," she writes. "And then saying, I didn't have to be topless, just sheer. And then saying I could wear whatever lingerie I wanted."
Hilton claims that Hugh offered her a seven-figure sum to appear on the magazine's front cover - but she declined, stating that her mom would have "lost her mind" if she did and that people had already branded her a "sl*t" following the leaking of her private tape.
"I felt like a Playboy pictorial would just cement that in people's minds," she writes.
Then, in 2004, Hilton saw herself on the cover of Playboy.
"I was surprised. And not in a good way," she writes.
"Hef had 'honored' me with the Sex Star of the Year Award, which means they can claim it's 'news' and not a pictorial," Hilton further explained. "He got a picture from an old test shoot with a woman photographer who was really great. It's kind of an old-school pinup-girl vibe: red bustier and heels, black fishnets, very little actual skin."
She later claimed that she did not receive a payment for the cover as a result of this method.
"I imagine [the magazine] sold well because people expected to see me naked inside the magazine," she continued. "Surprise, suckers. They got nothing. Same as me."
But, at the time, Hilton wasn't making jokes. She recalls her parent being "p***ed" and that the situation reduced her to tears. Nevertheless, despite the family's uproar, they let the matter lie.
"None of us confronted [Hefner], because you just didn't do that." she writes.
Playboy did not immediately get back to Insider with a comment.
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