Paris Hilton is famed for being a "Barbie airhead", as she put it herself, but now in a new interview, she revealed that all is not what it seems when it comes to her famous persona.
In an interview for the upcoming CBS Sunday Morning, the socialite said her 2003 sex tape would have never happened if she hadn't been so "lost" as a result of the physical and mental abuse she endured at a residential school in the late 90s.
Paris spent her last pre-pandemic birthday soaking up the sun:"That would never have happened if I hadn't gone to that school," Hilton, 39, said. "When I got out of that school, I was so lost. And then I ended up meeting the person who did that," she said of her ex Rick Salomon, who went on to sell the footage under the name 1 Night in Paris as Hilton rose to fame in The Simple Life.
"I never would have let someone like that in my life if I hadn't gone through such experiences," Hilton said. "And therefore, I would have never put myself in that situation. But I just wanted love so bad. I didn't really know. I was so naïve. And I trusted the wrong person. And that's something I'll regret for the rest of my life."
Hilton then explained that her "Barbie airhead" persona is simply an act that she created as a defense mechanism.
"With the character, it's mostly kind of this blonde, bubbly, kind of Barbie airhead. And, in real life, I'm the exact opposite," she said. "I'm not a dumb blonde. I'm just very good at pretending to be one."
"There's so many differences," Hilton said of her actual personality that many believe consists of her being bubbly and having nothing more to say than "That's hot."
The 39-year-old first opened about the abuse she suffered at the school last month.
She explained to People magazine that she was sent to Provo Canyon School in Utah by her parents because she was sneaking out of her New York apartment to party.
However, "from the moment I woke up until I went to bed, it was all day screaming in my face, yelling at me, continuous torture," she told the news outlet. "I was having panic attacks and crying every single day."
The current owners of the school, who have owned the facility since 2000, have declined to publically comment on Hilton's allegations.
