Paris Hilton

Paris Hilton biography

Paris Whitney Hilton (born February 17, 1981) is an American businessperson, potential future heiress, actress, producer, singer and socialite. She is a great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton (founder of Hilton Hotels).

Hilton became famous for her controversial participation in a sex tape, which was released in November 2003, shortly before the premiere of the television reality series The Simple Life alongside fellow socialite and childhood best friend Nicole Richie. The show was a massive hit for the FOX network, premiering with 13 million viewers, and brought Hilton and co-star Richie to an international recognition. She then released her 2004 tongue-in-cheek autobiography called Confessions of an Heiress: A Tongue-in-Chic Peek Behind the Pose, she landed a supporting role in the 2005 horror film House of Wax, and later recorded the 2006 music album Paris.

She has appeared in various lists compiled by magazines such as Maxim, FHM as well as Stuff. She is also regularly placed on lists composed by Forbes magazine and was named one of the "100 Hottest Women of All-Time" by Men's Health. Critics also suggest that Hilton epitomizes the title of famous for being famous; she is an example of the modern phenomenon of the "celebutante", the celebrity who rises to fame not because of their talent or work but because of their inherited wealth and controversial lifestyle. She has parlayed her media fame into a fashion line and various perfumes with her celebrity endorsement - her fragrances have reportedly earned $1.4 billion. As of 2012, her net worth is estimated to be $100 million.

Early life

Hilton was born in New York City, New York, to Kathy (née Avanzino), a socialite and actress, and Richard Hilton, a businessman. She is the oldest of four children: she has one sister, Nicholai Olivia "Nicky" Hilton (b. 1983), and two brothers, Barron Nicholas Hilton II (b. 1989) and Conrad Hughes Hilton III (b. 1994). Her paternal great-grandfather was Conrad Hilton, who founded the Hilton Hotels; he was of Norwegian and German ancestry. She is a half-niece of two child stars of the 1970s, Kim and Kyle Richards.

She was raised Roman Catholic and still attends Mass. Hilton moved between numerous exclusive homes in her youth, including a suite in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan, Beverly Hills, and the Hamptons. As a child she was good friends with other socialites, including Nicole Richie and Kim Kardashian.

Growing up in Los Angeles, Hilton attended the Buckley School and the exclusive St. Paul the Apostle Church and School, where she graduated in 1995. She then attended her freshman year of high school at the Marywood-Palm Valley School in Rancho Mirage, California from 1995-1996. Then in 1996, when Hilton was 14, her family moved to the East Coast. In New York, she briefly attended Convent of the Sacred Heart (while Lady Gaga was a student there) in 1996 before transferring again to the Dwight School. At 16, Hilton spent one year at the Provo Canyon School, a school for emotionally troubled teens. She then attended the Canterbury Boarding School, in New Milford, Connecticut from the fall of 1998 to February 1999 for her junior year, where she was a member of the ice hockey team. In February 1999, the month she turned 18, she was expelled from Canterbury for violating school rules.

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