Paris Hilton explained how sharing her harrowing experience at a troubled teen boarding school ultimately brought her closer to mother Kathy.
Speaking on the Tamron Hall show on Friday, Feb. 11, Hilton explained of the relationship with The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star, “We are just so much closer now. That was something that was traumatizing to me, [what I] went through, and something that has been such a painful subject for us both to talk about.”
Hilton said that what made a big difference was the fact that her mom finally watched This Is Paris, the documentary series in which she spoke out about the abuse she allegedly suffered at the Provo Canyon School in Utah.
“I’m just grateful to have been able to finally speak to her about it and have her watch my documentary and understand what I went through,” the “Stars Are Blind” singer said. “Just to hear her say sorry for the first time meant the world to me because it’s something I’ve been waiting for for a very long time.”
Hilton claimed that the school, which called itself a residential care facility for at-risk youth, subjected her to emotional, psychological and physical abuse. Hilton, who was taken from her home in the middle of the night by people who worked for the school, explained she was routinely screamed at as a form of purported therapy, given unknown medication and stripped of any privacy, including when she was showering.
In February 2021, the House of Wax star spoke out in a Utah court against the Provo Canyon School, which is now under new ownership, and other schools within the so-called troubled teen industry. She recalled in her testimony that the goal of the school was to “break us down” and that she still has regular nightmares of being kidnapped due to her experience.
“Talking about something so personal was and is still terrifying,” Hilton shared in court. “I cannot go to sleep at night knowing that there are children that are enduring the same abuse that I and so many others went through. Neither should you. I am proof that money doesn’t protect against abuse.”
Last year on her Peacock series Paris In Love, which detailed her wedding plans to her now-husband Carter Reum, Hilton said that it was challenging to speak with her parents about her time at Provo. At the time Kathy would routinely “change the subject” when Hilton would talk about the school.
“Mom is just so fun and chill, she doesn’t really like to get serious,” Hilton explained. “I’ve never really had a serious, deep conversation about things like that. She doesn’t like to think about that. She just likes to be happy. I don’t want to kill her vibe.”
