Paris Hilton
In tears she testifies against her former boarding school
Paris Hilton attended the facility for eleven months in the 1990s.
© DFree / shutterstock.com
Paris Hilton testified against her former boarding school in a court in Utah. She accuses employees, among other things, of abuse.
In a court in the US state of Utah, Paris Hilton (39) tried the Provo Canyon School – a boarding school that the hotel heiress attended for about a year in the late 1990s – on Monday (February 8). As a teenager she was allegedly abused emotionally, physically and psychologically by employees. "My name is Paris Hilton, I am an institutional abuse survivor and I speak on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of children who are in US care facilities right now," said Hilton, beginning her testimony to the Senate Justice, Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee from Utah.
For the past 20 years she has had a recurring nightmare in which she was kidnapped by two strangers in the middle of the night and locked in a facility after a body search. "I wish I could tell you that this excruciating nightmare is just a dream, but it's not," said the 39-year-old.
Paris Hilton first made her allegations public in September 2020 in her YouTube documentary "This Is Paris". She was "insulted and abused mentally and physically every day, cut off from the outside world" and "deprived of her human rights," said Hilton at the home, which model Kat von D (38) also visited for several months.
She had to "take medication without diagnosis"
Paris Hilton goes on to say that she had to take medication "without diagnosis" that would have made her "numb and exhausted". "I didn't breathe fresh air or see any sunlight for eleven months," says the entrepreneur with tears. "There was no privacy – every time I went to the bathroom or got in the shower it was monitored."
She tells her story to draw attention to what is still going on in such facilities today and calls for schools to be monitored more closely. "I'll be honest, talking about something so personal is terrifying," said Paris Hilton. "And I can't sleep at night because I know there are children who suffer the same abuse as me and so many others."
In court on Monday, two other witnesses testified in support of a bill by Utah Senator Michael McKell calling for a reform of state law related to similar facilities. Hilton doesn't want to stop fighting "until something changes". "Children are our future," appeals to the court. "And no child deserves to be tortured and traumatized."