In a recent interview with People, Paris Hilton detailed mental and physical abuse she says she faced while at boarding school. She said that every day there was “torturous,” and at one point she was strangled and placed in solitary confinement.
Hilton, 39, is releasing a documentary called This is Paris for free on her official YouTube channel. Ahead of the film’s release, she revealed an experience she’s kept secret for over 20 years. “I buried my truth for so long,” Paris told People. “But I’m proud of the strong woman I’ve become. People might assume everything in my life came easy to me, but I want to show the world who I truly am.”
She told the magazine that growing up, her parents were very strict with her, and that caused her to want to be rebellious. Her parents eventually sent her to Provo Canyon School, a school for troubled youth in Utah.
“It was supposed to be a school, but [classes] were not the focus at all. From the moment I woke up until I went to bed, it was all day screaming in my face, yelling at me, continuous torture,” Hilton said.
She described awful experiences from her time in Utah. “The staff would say terrible things. They were constantly making me feel bad about myself and 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.”
She continued: “They would grab the phone or rip up letters I wrote telling me, ‘No one is going to believe you.’ And the staff would tell the parents that the kids were lying. So my parents had no idea what was going on.”
The school gave the following statement to People: “Originally opened in 1971, Provo Canyon School was sold by its previous ownership in August 2000. We therefore cannot comment on the operations or patient experience prior to this time.”
Hilton said the treatement there led to “panic attacks and crying every single day. “I was just so miserable,” she said. “I felt like a prisoner and I hated life.”
Paris left the school in 1999 and fled to New York, never telling anyone about the experiences she had there. “It feels like my nightmare is over,” she said. “And I’m going to watch the movie with my parents. I think it will be good for us, but emotional too. There are no more secrets.”
This Is Paris is set to debut Sept. 14 on YouTube.
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