Paris Hilton got candid when she spoke about the abuse she experienced when her parents sent her to boarding school.
Paris Hilton is one of the most popular figures in Hollywood. Many thought that things came easy for her, but she wanted to show the people that they were wrong about her. She claimed that she was also a victim of abuse.
Paris Hilton details experience in boarding school
In an exclusive interview with People, Paris Hilton admitted that she was rebellious during her younger years. It came to a point when her parents Rick and Kathy Hilton decided to send her to boarding schools that claimed to focus on behavioral and mental development.
She was sent to Provo Canyon School and stayed there for 11 months. According to Hilton, her life while at the boarding school was miserable.
“It was supposed to be a school, but [classes] were not the focus at all,” Hilton told People.
“From the moment I woke up until I went to bed, it was all day screaming in my face, yelling at me, continuous torture,” she continued.
“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.”
Boarding experience changed Paris’s life
Paris Hilton added that they were cut off from the outside world, so she had no way to tell her parents. She attempted to tell them once but ended up in so much trouble that she never did it again.
“When I tried to tell them once, I got in so much trouble I was scared to say it again,” Hilton recalled.
“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.”
When she turned 18, Hilton left the school and returned to New York. She was very pleased when she left the boarding school and didn’t want to open up about the experience until she decided to speak about her truth in the documentary, This Is Paris.
“I was so grateful to be out of there, I didn’t even want to bring it up again. It was just something I was ashamed of and I didn’t want to speak of it,” she added.
However, the traumatic experience left her feeling miserable. She had “panic attacks” and was “crying every single day.”
“I was just so miserable. I felt like a prisoner and I hated life.”
Boarding school’s response
People tried to reach out to Provo Canyon School to hear their side after Paris Hilton’s confession. They released a statement but couldn’t comment on Hilton’s claims.
“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,” their statement read.
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