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Paris Hilton said she suffered physical and mental abuse when she was sent to a correctional school as a teenager

Aug 24, 2020, 17:00 IST
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Paris Hilton said she was abused at a correctional institution.Axelle/Bauer-Griffin / Getty Images
  • In an interview with The Times, Paris Hilton said she suffered abuse as a teenager.
  • Hilton said she was the victim of physical and mental abuse when she attended the Provo Canyon School at 16 years old, which is a correctional institute based in Utah.
  • Hilton said it was a "terrifying" place to live because the staff were "sadistic" and "wanted to torture and hurt children."
  • She said she was beaten, forced to take pills, called a "spoiled brat," and once strangled.
  • The school has since changed ownership, but has been sued by other survivors who spoke of abuse during their time there.
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Paris Hilton has spoken about her experience at a correctional institution when she was 16 years old, and said she was physically and mentally abused during her time there.

In an interview with The Times, Hilton said she was sent to the Provo Canyon School in Utah as a teenager. She said she was taken there when her parents learned she had been skipping school and going out partying at night.

However, it turned out to be one of the darkest points in her life — she said she was beaten, forced to take pills, called a "spoiled brat," and once strangled.

"It was just terrifying to be in a place every day where people who work there were sadistic and wanted to torture and hurt children," Hilton told The Times. "I don't wish that on anyone."

Nicky (left), Ricky (center), and Paris Hilton (right).Ron Galella/Getty Images

She said the pills made her head "foggy" and that all letters sent home were monitored. Hilton added that kids were even sometimes thrown in solitary confinement.

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"They love to break you down as much as possible," she said.

The school has since changed ownership, but has been sued by other survivors who claimed they were abused during their time there, The Times reported.

The new owners declined to comment on the past regime when contacted by The Times, it reported.

Hilton also spoke about the abuse in her new documentary "This Is Paris," which will be released next month. The footage also documents another tough period for Hilton when she was young — just a few years after leaving school, a private sex tape filmed when she was 20 with her then-boyfriend Rick Salomon was leaked.

She told Marie Claire in 2018 that the video was "the most embarrassing, humiliating thing that has ever happened to me in my life," and the leak deeply impacted her mental health.

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In February, she spoke about her mental health and how trust is a big issue for her in an interview with Cosmopolitan. She said she's had "a little bit" of therapy, but can't see one for a sufficient period of time because she "doesn't really trust anyone."

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