Paris Hilton has gone from being merely a wealthy young heiress to the Hilton hotel chain, to becoming an entrepreneur on her own. Among other things, she became the star of her own reality TV show and had her own line of jewelry. At twenty-five years old, she’s also became well known as a fashionable party girl.
Before Paris was even born, she had quite the lineage. Her great grandfather, Conrad Hilton, founded the Hilton hotel chain, and also happened to be the second of nine men that Zsa Zsa Gabor (click on link to read biography) married. His son, Conrad Nicholson Hilton, Jr., was the first husband to another actress who married often, Elizabeth Taylor. Paris’s maternal side of the family offers her even more famous lineage, as her aunt and uncle, Kim Richards and Kyle Richards, were child actors, appearing in movies like Escape to Witch Mountain, and the television shows Nanny and the Professor and Little House on the Prairie.
This famous lineage came close to being worthless when Conrad Hilton died in 1979, his will left nothing to his children or their descendants. Paris’s grandfather, Barron Hilton, contested Conrad’s will in court and eventually won, nine years after Conrad’s death. Paris should be grateful, as she is expected to someday inherit some of those millions.
Growing up as an heiress, Paris lived in places adults could only dream of, such as the Waldorf-Astoria in Beverly Hills and the exclusive Hamptons in Long Island. She and her sister, Nicky, lived in a $10 million mansion in Hollywood Hills, which is one of the three mansions owned by their parents, Richard Hilton, a real estate mogul, and Kathy Hilton.
Probably realizing that an education wasn’t needed for her to make it in the world, Paris quit high school and later earned her GED. While she made a quick name for herself as a socialite, Paris parlayed her notoriety into a successful modeling career, namely as a spokes model for Guess jeans. Playboy magazine named Paris as “Sex Star of the Year” in 2005, and someone looking very much like her appeared on the cover of the magazine, though her spokespeople say it is not her.
Paris transitioned quickly from modeling to acting, making the movies Sweetie Pie and Nine Lives in 2000 and 2002. In 2005 she earned her first acting award, a 2005 Worst Supporting Actress Razzie for her role in the movie House of Wax. Current plans for Paris include a part in Bruce Willis’s next Die Hard movie. Along with the movies came a reality TV show with her longtime friend, Nicole Richie, the adopted daughter of singer Lionel Richie. The two first starred in the show The Simple Life in 2003 as they lived and worked on an Arkansas family farm, did short working stints at local places, and met and got friendly with a collection of local young men. These two young socialites working farm jobs made for many humorous moments.
Along with the success of Paris’s television show and movie roles came more fame and fortune, but it also made for some difficult relationships. As Paris and Nicole continued their TV show, their longtime friendship suffered, and they had a major falling out. They still continue their working relationship, but were soon appearing in The Simple Life separately. Shortly after The Simple Life began its success, an ex-boyfriend of Paris’s, Rick Salomon, made public a sex tape they had made together. Paris sued her ex and later settled out of court.
Paris has had many other relationships that didn’t fare much better. She had a relationship with Titanic actor, Leonardo DiCaprio at one time, but the extent of the relationship was rumored by the tabloids to be much more than she and Leonardo would admit to. She followed this with relationships with boxer Oscar De La Hoya, football players Brian Urlacher and Matt Leinart, and Backstreet Boy Nick Carter. None of these relationships lasted very long.
Some of Paris’s relationships have been much more serious, even reaching engagements, such as with Jason Shaw, a Tommy Hilfiger model. She also had a very public engagement to a fellow heir who ironically shared her same first name, Paris Latsis. Apparently having a lot in common wasn’t enough as their engagement lasted only a few months.
Assuming herself to have a strong business sense that apparently runs in the family, Paris took her fame a step further once again. She has lent her name to jewelry sold on Amazon.com and to purses for Toys for Tots. She also has her own perfume and cologne line. She made an attemto to venture into the line of nightclubs at one time, again not a successful project for the pink clad princess. Paris tried to join Sean P Diddy Combs in a campaign to get more young people to vote, but it blew up in her face when it was found that she herself wasn’t even registered to vote.
Paris wrote a book about how to be an heiress titled, Confessions of an Heiress: A Tongue-in-Chic Peek Behind the Pose, which became quite successful. She has also started her own music career and released her first album, Paris, on August 22, 2006, with the single “Stars Are Blind.” The album debuted at #6 on the Billboard 200, selling 76,000 copies in its first week. Paris also appeared in the 2007 Guinness Book of World Records as the Most Overrated Celebrity.
Hilton, was arrested on suspicion of driving with a suspended license and has been sentenced to 45 days in jail. She contacted Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Governor of California, to ask him to terminate her jail sentence. The hotel heiress pleaded with fans to sign a petition which she intended to be sent to Arnie requesting he grant her a pardon.
In a message on her MySpace page, the beleaguered bobblehead wrote, “My friend Joshua started this petition, please help and sihn [sic] it. i LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!” For all her money she should at least be able to afford “spell-check’ on her laptop!
Paris was required to begin her jail term by June 5, 2007, and voluntarily checked herself into the Century Regional Detention Facility which is an all female jail in Lynwood, California after attending the 2007 MTV Movie Awards 2 days before.
After serving just 22 days of her sentence, Hilton was released from jail on June 26, 2007. In her first interview since her incarceration Paris agreed to an interview with Larry King in which she stated that prison had changed her and she was about to embark on a totally different lifestyle.
In November 2007 Hilton announced she would be visiting Rwanda as a post-jail vow and to spread awareness about that African country but the visit was cancelled due to circumstances beyond her control. That was lucky!
Paris continued to party but with much less visibility.
An interesting quote about Paris Hilton by Catman Cohen: “I met Paris Hilton, a sweet thin girl, who did not know who I am and, as I discovered, did not know who she is either, other than what the Media told her to be” ~ Catman Cohen on Paris Hilton and The Cult of Celebrity.
In 2007 Paris began dating Good Charlotte front man, Benji Madden and the pair were seldom spotted without one another. The rumours abounded as usual as to the depth of the relationship but once agin, as with most of Paris’s relationships, it ended in late 2008.
But it wasn’t long before Miss Hilton was tripping around the world with a new beau. This time it was ‘The Hills’ star Doug Reinhardt who had fallen under the heiress’s spell. The two were seldom seen apart in early 2009 and Paris was known to be making, ’settling down’ noises with regard to her new love.
