CANNES — Paris Hilton is ready to leave her party girl reputation in the past.
“The world first got to know me as a teenager moving to New York City and sneaking out, going out every night, basically,” the heiress, 44, reflected during a panel discussion with 3C Ventures founder and CEO Michael Kassan at the Cannes Lions 2025 International Festival of Creativity Tuesday.
“I was on Page Six all the time and then through to ‘Simple Life,’ where I was playing a character, so I think the world just assumed, if they didn’t know me, that that’s who I was,” she added.
Hilton recalled that some of the stereotypes pinned on her were “party girl” and “dumb blond,” due to a “character” she now claims was not the real her, but rather one she “created.”
A New York Post article from 2000 stated the socialite was the “most desired heiress in town” and also called out her risqué Vanity Fair photo shoot that year, in which she posed topless and flipped the bird.
However, even then, famed publicist Lizzie Grubman was quoted in the story as saying Hilton had “aspirations beyond nightlife and $1,000 articles of clothing.”
The “Stars Are Blind” songstress added at the panel Tuesday, “There was definitely many times, where I’ve been misunderstood and underestimated.”
Hilton shared that she felt the public finally got to know her true self more with the release of her book “Paris: The Memoir” and her 2020 documentary, “This Is Paris.”
In the YouTube Originals film, the now-mother of two detailed the physical and emotional abuse she allegedly suffered during her stint at the Provo Canyon School, a boarding school in Utah.
“The staff would say terrible things,” she further claimed in an interview with People at the time.
“They were constantly making me feel bad about myself and [would] bully me. I think it was their goal to break us down. And they were physically abusive, hitting and strangling us. They wanted to instill fear in the kids so we’d be too scared to disobey them.”
Hilton concluded Tuesday, “I’ve been through so much more than anyone would have ever known.”
During the panel, Kassan commended the pop culture icon for being able to have her brand transcend generations.
“What people want is a brand that they can connect with, and have that emotional connection and, for me, I’ve been vulnerable and just really showed who I truly was,” Hilton explained.
“It’s just been incredible, the power of using your voice and telling your truth, and have now changed 15 state laws, and passed a federal bill … and it’s been some of the most meaningful work of my life.”
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