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- WHERE ARE THEY NOW: Stars and socialites from the early 2000s
WHERE ARE THEY NOW: Stars and socialites from the early 2000s
Talia Lakritz
- Paris Hilton hosts a podcast and advocates for ending abuse at youth residential treatment centers.
- Lindsay Lohan is returning to acting with a new Netflix deal.
Heiress Paris Hilton dominated the early 2000s as a model, singer, socialite, and reality TV star.
Hilton starred on the reality TV show "The Simple Life" with Nicole Richie from 2003 to 2007, in which the pair traded their luxe lifestyles for everyday jobs. She also released her debut album "Paris," featuring the hit single "Stars Are Blind," in 2006, as well as lines of perfume, jewelry, and purses. Her New York City nightclub outings were frequent tabloid fodder.
Hilton now hosts a podcast called "This Is Paris" and is working to end abuse at youth residential treatment centers.
On her podcast "This Is Paris," as well as a YouTube Originals documentary of the same name, Hilton has opened up about the alleged abuse she experienced at a Utah boarding school. Hilton subsequently testified on Capitol Hill in favor of a bill that would give children more protection at "troubled teen" facilities, saying she had been "strangled, slapped across the face, and watched in the shower by male staff" during her time there.
Hilton also starred in a Peacock series "Paris In Love" following her wedding planning process, and launched her own production company in 2021 as part of a two-year deal with Warner Bros. Unscripted Television, Deadline reported.
She has continued modeling for brands like Savage X Fenty, Skims, and Valentino, but says she's left her partying days behind.
"I'm happy that I got all of that out of my system and I don't really care for going to clubs anymore," she told the Wall Street Journal in 2021.
Nicole Richie starred with Hilton on "The Simple Life."
After the show ended, Richie focused on music and acting. She joined the rock band Darling in 2004, and appeared in the TV shows "8 Simple Rules" and "American Dreams" as well as the film "Kids in America."
She continues to remain a television personality as a judge on the fashion design reality TV series "Making the Cut."
Richie starred in her own reality TV show, "Candidly Nicole," for two seasons before becoming a regular on the sitcom "Great News."
Richie puts her expertise as a fashion designer and head of her lifestyle brand House of Harlow to use on the "Project Runway" breakaway show, "Making the Cut."
She also appeared on "Paris In Love" as a guest at Hilton's wedding.
Paris' younger sister Nicky Hilton often accompanied her to nightclubs.
Nicky took classes at Parsons School of Design and Fashion Institute of Technology after graduating from high school in 2001, but didn't earn a degree. That didn't stop her from launching her first clothing line, Hilton's Chick, in 2004.
These days, Nicky primarily works as a fashion designer.
Nicky launched a shoe collection with French Sole in 2019. She has also released two Tolani clothing collections and a Smashbox makeup line.
Lindsay Lohan rose to fame as the star of classic movies such as "The Parent Trap," "Freaky Friday," and "Mean Girls."
Lohan also enjoyed a successful music career with her debut album, "Speak," going platinum.
She was frequently photographed at nightclubs with Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, a group that became known as the "Holy Trinity."
After largely disappearing from the spotlight during the 2010s, she signed a deal with Netflix this year to appear in two new movies.
Lohan took a break from acting in the 2010s, moving abroad and opening beach clubs in Mykonos and Rhodes. In 2019, she spoke to Variety for an article titled "Lindsay Lohan Wants You to Forget Her Past."
"The first time I was in a tabloid, I was like, 'Oh, my God, I feel like Britney Spears!' because she was in a tabloid and I felt cool," she said. "Little did I know what would happen from there."
She is set to appear in the Netflix film "Falling for Christmas" at the end of this year, having signed a deal with the streaming service, according to Variety.
Kim Kardashian worked as Paris Hilton's stylist and assistant before becoming a celebrity in her own right.
Kardashian appeared on episodes of "The Simple Life" with Hilton and Richie. She then went on to star on "Keeping Up With the Kardashians," which premiered on E! in 2007 in the wake of a sex tape scandal involving Kardashian's ex-boyfriend, Ray J.
Kardashian is now a billionaire thanks to her reality TV fame as well as her own business ventures.
"Keeping Up With the Kardashians" ended in 2021, then moved to Hulu as "The Kardashians" in 2022. With 314 million followers on Instagram and 72.5 million followers on Twitter, Kardashian leveraged her social media empire to launch her cosmetics line, KKW Beauty, in 2017, and her shapewear line, Skims, in 2019.
She joined Forbes' World's Billionaires List in 2021.
In the early 2000s, Britney Spears was one of the biggest pop stars in the world.
Spears' debut solo album, "Baby One More Time," was released in 1999, Insider's Tayler Adigun reported. The album, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart, changed pop music forever, according to Rolling Stone. According to Billboard, it sold 10.6 million copies in the United States and, as of 2019, was one of 24 albums to break the 10 million-sold barrier.
Her 2003 hit single, "Toxic," won a Grammy for best dance recording, and she was also one of the youngest artists to be inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame at age 21.
Spears was placed in a conservatorship — a legal guardianship typically enacted for those incapable of making their own decisions — in 2008 after she had several public mental breakdowns. Under the conservatorship, Spears had no control over financial or personal decisions.
After a Las Vegas residency show and successful tour, Spears was released from her conservatorship in 2021.
Until 2019, Spears dropped an album every two to three years. She also had a four-year Las Vegas residency; her final performance grossed $1.1 million, the highest ever reported for a single theater Las Vegas residency show, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
During this time, Spears also launched clothing and perfume lines, landed a luxury fashion campaign, and served as a judge on "The X Factor."
After a 2021 hearing, during which Britney Spears was able to speak directly with a judge for the first time in open court, the singer asked the court to end her conservatorship and described being abused, controlled, and monitored intensively by her father.
"It's my wish and my dream for all of this to end," she said of the conservatorship. "I just want my life back. The conservatorship should end. I truly believe this conservatorship is abusive."
Spears was freed from her conservatorship in November 2021.
Kelly Osbourne appeared on the reality TV show "The Osbournes" from 2002 to 2005.
"The Osbournes" helped launch the reality TV genre where a camera crew follows a family around to capture both mundane and drama-filled moments. Both Kelly and her younger brother, Jack, were teenagers during the run of the show, which won an Emmy in 2002.
Osbourne remains a television personality.
Kelly co-hosted "Fashion Police" from 2010 to 2015. She has also made appearances on "The Talk," "The View," and "The Masked Singer."
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