Paris Hilton

Paris Whitney Hilton
Paris Hilton at a press conference for GoYellow.de on May 20, 2005 in Munich.
Born	February 17, 1981 New York City, New York
Occupation(s)	Actress, model

For the Hotel in Paris, France, see Hilton Paris

Paris Whitney Hilton (born February 17, 1981) is an heiress to the Hilton Hotel fortune, as well as her father's real estate fortune. In addition to being a famous socialite, she has also done modeling and acting. She has been described as a "celebutante," a portmanteau of "celebrity" and "debutante."^[1]

Background

Hilton was born in New York City, the eldest of four children of Richard Hilton and Kathy Richards. Her younger sister is Nicky Hilton, and her younger brothers are Barron Hilton II and Conrad Hilton II.

On the maternal side of her family, Hilton is a niece of two popular child stars of the 1970s, Kim Richards and Kyle Richards, who appeared in the motion picture Escape to Witch Mountain and TV shows like Nanny and the Professor, Little House on the Prairie, and later, ER. By marriage, she also is related to Zsa Zsa Gabor (the Hungarian-born actress who married Paris Hilton's great-grandfather Conrad Hilton) as well as Elizabeth Taylor (the actress's first husband was Paris Hilton's great-uncle, Conrad Nicholson Hilton Jr.).

Her paternal grandparents are hotel chairman Barron Hilton and his wife, the former Marilyn Hawley, and her paternal great-grandparents were Hilton Hotel founder Conrad Hilton and his first wife, Mary Barron. When Conrad Hilton died in 1979, he left nothing in his will to his children or other descendants. Barron Hilton contested this decision and won in 1988. According to Forbes magazine in 2005, the net worth of Barron Hilton is estimated at just over US $1 billion, of which Paris is expected to inherit a little over US $50 million.

Hilton moved between several exclusive homes in her youth, including a suite in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan, Beverly Hills, and the Hamptons. Currently, her parents own a $30.5 million mansion in Bel Air, a $12.3 million estate in the Hamptons, as well as $10 million house in the Hollywood Hills in which she and her sister stay to give them privacy and easy access to clubs in Los Angeles.

After attending high school at the Dwight School in New York, but dropping out and eventually earning a GED, Hilton decided not to attend a university.

File:Parisdvd2.jpg

DVD cover for 1 Night in Paris.

Hilton shot to prominence when a sex video of her with then-boyfriend Rick Salomon was leaked onto the Internet shortly after The Simple Life debuted, causing a sensation. On June 9, 2004 it was released as a DVD titled 1 Night in Paris which was presented by Salomon. Hilton sued Salomon for releasing the tape, but the suit was settled. Hilton received US $400,000 and a percentage of the profits, which were donated to charity.

Hilton was engaged to Tommy Hilfiger model Jason Shaw from mid-2002 to early 2003. On May 29, 2005, she announced her engagement to Paris Latsis, a Greek shipping heir. However, on October 1, 2005, Hilton announced that the five month engagement had been called off. Soon thereafter, she began dating another Greek shipping heir, Stavros Niarchos III, but as of May 2, 2006, Hilton publicist Elliot Mintz told the press of the reported breakup.

Careers

In recent years Hilton has gained recognition by appearing in television, movies, commercials, and modeling photographs. According to Forbes magazine, in 2003-2004 she earned approximately US$7.5 million for her television and movie roles, but in 2004-2005 her earnings from television, movies, modeling, and personal appearances have earned her an additional $15.5 million. During this period Forbes Magazine has ranked Hilton as one of the top 100 celebrities in the world.

Model

Hilton first came into the public eye as one of the more famous New York socialites and heirs. Along with her sister, she would make countless appearances in the party section of New York society magazines. She later worked as a fashion model for Catherine Malandrino and Marc Bouwer, and on an ad campaign for Italian label Iceberg. She has also been the spokeswoman and promotional face for the products of GUESS clothing.

Hilton has also been featured in several television commercials, including a T-Mobile commercial for which she was paid $250,000 and her Carl's Jr. commercial (see more below) for which she was paid $400,000 according to Forbes Magazine.

Actress

Film

She appeared in the short subjects QIK2JDG and L.A. Knights, as well as minor and supporting roles in the feature movies House of Wax, The Hillz, Wonderland, Uptown Girls, Raising Helen and Nine Lives. Hilton won the 2005 Worst Supporting Actress Razzie for House of Wax. She landed her first lead role in a theatrical release with National Lampoon's Pledge This! (2005).

She also appeared in cameo roles in Zoolander (2001), The Cat in the Hat (2003) and Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (2004).

On February 16, 2006, the Internet site IMDb [2] reported:

• "Socialite Paris Hilton has reportedly been asked to play a young version of celebrated humanitarian Mother Teresa in a movie biopic. Indian director T. Rajeevnath has contacted the hotel heiress about taking the lead role in his new film, which will chronicle the late nun's early life. He tells MTV.co.uk, "My agents in California have contacted Paris Hilton."

Television

Hilton and Nicole Richie (daughter of Lionel) starred in the 2003 FOX hit reality series The Simple Life, in which they lived with a family on their farm in rural Altus, Arkansas. Highlights of the show included the girls performing poorly at various jobs, making out with the local boys, and numerous instances of them shown as "fish out of water." It was followed by two more seasons: The Simple Life 2: Road Trip and The Simple Life 3: Interns.

In April 2005, Hilton announced that she severed both personal and professional ties with Richie. Neither party commented on the reason. Both have been friends since childhood.[3]

Kimberly Stewart was raised as a potential Simple Life replacement for Richie, but FOX eventually dropped the series saying they didn't see a place for it in their schedule.[4] A month later, cable network E! picked up the fourth season with both Hilton and Richie as participants, though both would do tasks separately and not be seen together on screen.[5]

Hilton also guest starred in episodes of teen drama The OC and noir detective show Veronica Mars.

Singer

Hilton plans on releasing her own album, tentatively titled Paris, in mid-2006. Her planned first single entitled 'Screwed' was leaked to the Internet and has been remixed by Alex G. Paris has changed her first single to 'Turn It Up'. Her producers for the album include Jane Wiedlin from The Go-Go's and Scott Storch. Hilton has been reported to be covering Blondie's hit "Heart of Glass" for the album. She describes the album as mixes of pop, rock, dance and hip hop, and sounds like Blondie and Madonna. Paris was featured in the video for rapper Wong-G's "Caught Up In The Rapture" featuring Gizelle. People often mistake the song as by Paris because illegal filesharers have the file labeled as such. A couple of previews from the album were leaked in May 2006.

Entrepreneur

Heiress Records

Hilton is the founder of Heiress Records, the label on which she plans to release her debut album. It is a sub-label of Warner Brothers Records and was created in 2004. Hilton also plans to eventually sign new artists.

Designer

Hilton has also helped to design purses for Samantha Thavasa and Toys for Tots, and has created her own jewelry line for Amazon.com. Currently, her design work earns around US$250,000 per year.

Perfume and Cologne

In early May of 2004, Parlux Fragrances (who have made fragrances for Guess, Perry Ellis, XOXO) announced that they would be releasing a fragrance line created by Hilton. The perfume would be aptly named "Paris Hilton". The scent was described as "a brilliant flirtatious charm, this head-turning fragrance can be dressed up or down for both day and evening wear." The scent consists of "an ethereal halo with delicious notes of frozen Apple and juicy Peach Nectar wrapped with sparkling Muguet and a splash of wet Ozone. A luminous bouquet of sensual floralcy is at the heart of this fragrance. Delicate Mimosa Blossoms are entwined with sheer Freesia and Night-Blooming Jasmine petals, while heady, rich Tuberose provides depth and texture."

The perfume launch was a success. Originally set to be a small release, demand became popular and they had a wide release before Christmas of 2004. The launch was a big part of the Parlux stock increasing 30%. Ilia Lekach, a CEO at Parlux, said "I am delighted with our record performance and I'm optimistic regarding results through the end of our fiscal year. We have recently commenced shipments of our Paris Hilton fragrance which has surpassed our expectations."

After the success of Hilton's perfume, Parlux Fragrances had her create Paris Hilton for Men, a cologne that has a "sensual aura." The packaging states: "Paris Hilton knows how she likes a man to smell, so she has created a scent to share with her male admirers around the world." The cologne is available at Lazarus-Macy's. Sales reports are not available. Hilton's latest perfume is called Just Me by Paris Hilton. Hilton claims there will be more to follow later this year.

Non-Profit

In November 2004, Hilton participated in Sean "P. Diddy" Combs' Vote or Die campaign, to encourage youths to vote in the Presidential election. She drew criticism when it was revealed she did not vote, or had even registered to do so. [6][7]

Celebrity and sex symbol

Hilton and her sister, Nicky, are known for their jet-set lifestyles. Paris in particular has been trying to build herself into a marketable brand much like Donald Trump, claiming she must be regarded as a role model.

She has been widely discussed by tabloids. In 2000, the National Enquirer reported a casual friendship with Leonardo DiCaprio as something far more intimate. She has also been linked with other young celebrities, including actor Edward Furlong, boxer Oscar De La Hoya, model Jason Shaw, Chicago Bears football player Brian Urlacher, and singers Rob Mills, Deryck Whibley, and Backstreet Boy Nick Carter.

File:Playboy March 2005.jpg

The cover of the March 2005 issue of Playboy

In the fall of 2004, Hilton released a book, Confessions of an Heiress: A Tongue-in-Chic Peek Behind the Pose, which brings full color photographs of her and gives her tips on the dos and don'ts of living as an heiress. Hilton was reportedly given a $100,000 advanced payment for this book. Some in the media panned the writing as amateurish, and the book was parodied by Robert Mundell on The Late Show with David Letterman. Still, it became a New York Times bestseller.

In the March 2005 issue of Playboy, she was named the "Sex Star of the Year" in their list of the 25 Sexiest Celebrities. Someone appearing to be her was on the cover of the issue, but she did not pose for it; her spokeswoman says she does not know where Playboy got that picture. [8]

"That's hot!"

"That's hot!" is a phrase used by Hilton (although an earlier usage is attributed to her Simple Life co-star Nicole Richie [9] and has been used by others, including her 2nd cousin Gabrielle Benoit[rumored to have brought Paris the phrase], for many years). The catch phrase, a synonym for "That's cool" or "That's awesome," has since been parodied in pop culture outlets such as Saturday Night Live [10] and even by Hilton herself, on The Late Show with David Letterman.

In 2004, Hilton filed a successful request to trademark the phrase. She wishes to market clothing with the phrase prominently emblazoned on the garments; she felt it was time to trademark the phrase because "I've been saying it forever. I want to put it on T-shirts and stuff like that." [11]

Discography

Album information

Paris Released: September, 2006 Record Company: Heiress Records / Warner Brothers Peak Chart Position: N/A RIAA Certification: N/A U.S. Sales: N/A Single: "Turn It Up" was remixed by Peter Rauhofer and Dave Aude. This single was previously set for release May 9th, 2006. However, the Amazon page originally claiming this now says December 31st, 2025, suggesting there is currently no confirmed release date. [12]

Controversies

Hacked address book

On February 19, 2005, the contents of Hilton's personal T-Mobile account were posted to the Internet.[13] They included phone numbers (which included many celebrities such as Nicky Hilton, Christina Aguilera, Fred Durst, Eminem, Lindsay Lohan, Alsou, Nicole Richie, Jay-Z, Anna Kournikova, Snoop Dogg, Andy Roddick, Sadam Hussein, hillary puff/buff, Kimberly Stewart, Avril Lavigne, Frankie Muniz, Ashlee Simpson), notes (with even more numbers and email addresses and reminders such as her date to host Saturday Night Live), and thirty-five digital snapshots. In two of the leaked photos, Hilton is standing topless next to the MTV Latin America's VJ Eglantina Zingg, whom she kisses. Many of her notes showed heavy usage of Internet slang. She also contained a few boogers/snot on her picture of her bum.

Within days, it was revealed that Hilton's account could be accessed by guessing the answer to the "forgotten password" challenge question she chose: "What is your favorite pet's name?" The answer to this question is a matter of public record, although it is not clear if this was how the leakers accessed the account.

Carl's Jr. advertisement

Another controversy involving Hilton was her appearance in a Carl's Jr. television advertisement, originally broadcast in May 2005. In the commercial, which introduces the restaurant's "Spicy BBQ Six Dollar Burger", Hilton wears a provocative swimsuit and soaps up a Bentley automobile and herself before taking a big bite out of the burger. According to Forbes Magazine, Carl's Jr. paid Hilton $400,000 for filming in this commercial.

This has drawn criticism from television watchdog groups, including the Parents Television Council. The research director for the PTC, Melissa Caldwell, says; "This commercial is basically soft-core porn. The way she moves, the way she puts her finger in her mouth — it's very suggestive and very titillating." The Los Angeles, California based group says they plan to mobilize their more than 1 million members to contact the restaurant chain and voice their concern.[14]

Andy Puzder, CEO of Carl's Jr., says the group needs to "get a life... This isn't Janet Jackson; there is no nipple in this. There is no nudity, there is no sex acts; it's a beautiful model in a swimsuit washing a car." Puzder was referring to the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy when he spoke of Jackson. Puzder says he showed the ad to his three children, ages 7 to 12, and says they weren't corrupted.

FOX News host Bill O'Reilly speculated that Hilton did not in fact eat the burgers she endorsed and was therefore dishonest, inviting her to come on his show The O'Reilly Factor and eat one of the burgers on the air in order to prove him wrong. Hilton has not thus far acknowledged the invitation.

In addition to featuring the ad on their website, Carl's Jr. has also built a separate site to play a longer version of the commercial. A similar ad with Hilton for Hardee's hamburger chain (also owned by Carl's Jr. parent corporation CKE Restaurants) aired in 2005.

Before this deal with Carl's Jr., Hilton lost out on a $750,000 multi-commercial deal with Burger King because the company did not feel her sexy image was a good fit with their brand.

The ad was spoofed in the 2006 movie Date Movie.

Slander lawsuit

On October 13, 2005, diamond heiress and actress Zeta Graff filed a lawsuit against Hilton for slander. The lawsuit alleges that Hilton deliberately gave a false story to The New York Post in order to humiliate Graff. Graff is seeking ten million dollars in damages.

According to the story as originally published in The New York Post, Graff confronted Hilton in the London nightclub Kabaret, tried to rip a diamond necklace off Hilton's neck, and had to be restrained and thrown out of the club by security [15]. It was later revealed that the story was only partially true. Graff and Hilton did meet in the nightclub that night, but had only a brief argument. Hilton tried to have Graff thrown out but the club's owner refused. Hilton and her friends left the club in protest while Graff remained behind.

In her deposition, Hilton denied planting the story in The New York Post and even claimed not to be aware of it until much later. However, Hilton's former publicist Robert Shuter gave sworn testimony that he and Paris worked together to create the story, and he was told by her to call The New York Post and give them the story as an anonymous source [16].

The feud and lawsuit are now thought to be over, since Hilton and Graff have been seen out together in L.A, talking on good terms[17].

Allegations of racism

In 2004, Carole Aye Maung, reporter for the British tabloid News of the World, said that she viewed a tape that showed Hilton and Tommy Hilfiger model Brandon Davis in conversation with two African-American men who asked Hilton if she would model for them. After the men left the scene, Hilton allegedly referred to them as "dumb niggers."

After Carole Aye Maung's report, Hilton issued a statement saying, "I am deeply hurt by recent reports. Anyone who knows me knows that this is not me. I love everybody and am not a person who discriminates against anyone—ever."

Hilton's close friend Nicole Richie added: "She doesn't have a prejudiced bone in her body." Later, Davis claimed in a National Enquirer interview that Hilton frequently used the word "nigger" to refer to blacks and that she "puts down Jews and other minorities, too." Davis said he ended his friendship with Hilton, but has since been seen spending time with her socially, including an overseas holiday in 2005.[18][19]

Filmography

• The Simple Life: Till Death Do Us Part (2006)
• Pledge This! (2006) as Victoria English (yet to be released)
• Bottom's Up (2006) as Lisa Mancini (yet to be released)
• Meat Pie (2005) as Sally
• House of Wax (2005) as Paige Edwards
• The Simple Life: Interns (2005)
• The Hillz (2004) as Heather Smith
• Raising Helen (2004) as Amber
• The Simple Life 2: Road Trip (2004)
• 1 Night in Paris (2004)
• Wonderland (2003) as Barbie
• L.A. Knights (2003) as Sadie
• Pauly Shore Is Dead (2003)
• The Simple Life (2003)
• QIK2JDG (2002) as a Strung-out Supermodel
• Nine Lives (2002) as Jo
• Zoolander (2001)
• Sweetie Pie (2000)

Parodies

File:Paris hilton south park.gif

Paris Hilton parodied on the satirical cartoon, South Park.

• South Park, December 1, 2004: episode "Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset." In the episode, Hilton opened a store called "Stupid Spoiled Whore" that sold items to emulate her, such as a perfume dubbed Skanque (phonetically identical to skank) and parodied her Guess advertisements.
• Portrayed by Maya Rudolph and Amy Poehler on Saturday Night Live
• Sydney Drew (portrayed by Alycia Purrott) ; A character in Power Rangers SPD is a blonde, rich girl whose parents have given her everything she ever wants. She also acts, sings, models and manages to be the Pink Power Ranger.
• An ad campaign featuring the fictional "Marriott Sisters".
• In the Ctrl+Alt+Del comic for the 14th April 2006, Ethan severs her head with a baseball bat.
• Portrayed by Jessica Simpson on Saturday Night Live
• On the animated series Bratz, London Milton, a rich hotel heiress.
• Parody of Carl's Jr. Commercial with a fat man washing the car.
• In the movie Just Friends (2005), character Samantha James, played by Anna Faris
• PC security and Paris Hilton Knows the rules for better securing her PC with Windows Update.
• Privacy and recovering lost pictures, SMS messages from Paris Hilton's T-Mobile cell phone.
• Portrayed (in a less risque version) by Brenda Song as London Tipton on Disney Channel's The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
• Portrayed by Pink in her video for the single "Stupid Girls"
• In the UPN TV show Half and Half, the new Delicious Records breakout star
• Spoofed in Date Movie

A parody of Paris Hilton appeared in issue 1 of The Thing's 2006 ongoing series. A rich model, creatively named Milan Ramada is seen on a cell phone with her long blonde hair and chihaua. There is a rivalry between her and Ben Grimm's hollywood girlfriend Carlotta.

References

1. ^ Biography: Paris Hilton November 4 2005, A&E Television Networks.
2. ^ Gary, Crary Activists campaign against seal hunt February 2, 2004 ESPN.

• Carl's Jr. SpicyBurger controversy
• Address book hacked

External links

• Paris Hilton at IMDb
• Paris Hilton at the Internet Adult Film Database
• Paris Hilton's profile in the FMD-database
• Paris Hilton Fan Club on Myspace
• Paris Hilton - Profile on FamousWhy.com