With the way Paris Hilton is sliving, one gets the impression she never has a bad day. Money has never been a problem for the 41-year-old hotel heiress. She's independently wealthy even without her inheritance, thanks to the billion-dollar business empire she has built over the years.
Fame seems to have come easy to Hilton as well – all she had to do was play herself in a reality show and come up with a sex tape. Except that sex tape was actually revenge porn and caused her a lot of anguish.
The Sex Tape
Back in 2001, when Hilton was 20 years old, she made a sex tape with her then-boyfriend Rick Salomon, who was 33. Weeks before her reality show The Simple Life premiered in 2003; the sex tape was leaked.
While that reality TV/sex video combo ultimately catapulted her to fame (a formula her former bestie Kim Kardashian would also use years later), the socialite said she never consented to the tape's distribution. The fallout affected her mental health in a major way.
'Depressed, Humiliated'
Salomon reportedly profited from the video release, but Hilton "never, ever received one dollar," she told Marie Claire. "That is the last thing that I would want out there."
She said it hurt her reputation and that she "will always be judged and thought of as whatever they say about me because of a private moment between my boyfriend and me…I could not leave my house for months. I was so depressed, humiliated. I didn't want to be seen in public."
'I'll Never Be Able To Erase It'
Hilton also addressed the issue in an interview with Piers Morgan Tonight in 2011, saying, "People assume 'Oh, she's a slut' because of one thing that happened to me, and it's hard because I'll have to live with that for the rest of my life and explain it to my children. And it's something that's changed my life forever, and I'll never be able to erase it."
Her mother, Kathy Hilton, who was with her during the interview, said they turned to therapy as a family at the time.
'I’m Not What People Think'
Almost two decades on, people may still remember the tape, but Hilton has tried to move on the best way she can. "I want people to know that I'm grown-up," she said. "I'm a responsible businesswoman. I work very hard. I'm down-to-earth. Nothing has been handed to me."
She continued, "People love to talk sh*t. I'm used to it over the years. I love how anyone I meet, I always change their mind right away. I'm not what people think."
]]>The Inquisitr
