Paris Hilton broke down in tears this week as she testified to a panel of Utah politicians about being chronically abused at a boarding school there.
“My name is Paris Hilton. I’m an institutional-abuse survivor,” the 39-year-old socialite told a state Senate committee hearing at the Utah Capitol Monday.
Hilton, 39, was shown wiping away tears as she testified about her alleged abuse at age 17 at Provo Canyon School in the Beehive State, which she dubbed “hell itself on earth.”
“I was verbally, mentally, and physically abused on a daily basis,” Hilton said of her time when she was “no longer Paris” but just a number.
“I was cut off from the outside world and stripped of all of my human rights,” she said, accusing the staff of being “evil and sadistic.”
“I cried myself to sleep every single night praying I would wake up from this nightmare,” she told the hearing.
Hilton — who previously discussed the abuse in a documentary, “This is Paris” — said her 11 months at the so-called compassionate behavioral center caused ongoing trauma.
“For the past 20 years, I have had a recurring nightmare where I’m kidnapped in the middle of the night by two strangers, strip-searched, and locked in a facility,” she testified.
“I wish I could tell you that this haunting nightmare was just a dream, but it is not,” she said, saying she feared they will “never go away.”
She said she was “forced to consume medication that made me feel numb and exhausted” and “didn’t breathe fresh air or see the sunlight for 11 months.”
“There was zero privacy — every time I would use the bathroom or take a shower — it was monitored,” she testified.
“At 16 years old — as a child — I felt their piercing eyes staring at my naked body. I was just a kid and felt violated every single day,” she said, calling it “unconstitutional, degrading and terrifying.”
She claimed that a longtime staffer — who was employed until her documentary aired — would brag to recent students that “she was the one that broke Paris Hilton.”
Hilton told the hearing that “talking about something so personal was and is still terrifying” but she wanted to bring about change to prevent others being mistreated the same way.
Hilton’s testimony was to back a bill to require more government oversight of youth residential treatment centers and require them to document when they use restraints.
The measure passed unanimously following emotional testimony from Hilton and several other survivors.
Hilton called on President Biden and leaders in Congress to take action and said she intends to pursue federal legislation.
“This is just the first step,” Hilton told reporters. “This bill is going to definitely help a lot of children but there’s obviously more work to do, and I’m not going to stop until change happens.”
In a statement on its website, Provo Canyon School says the previous owners sold the school in 2000.
Associate administrator Tim Marshall told KUTV that the school supported the bill and had “eliminated the use of seclusion or isolation some time ago.” He also insisted that staff “do not use medication to sedate, render a patient immobile or restrict them in their ability to continue to engage actively in their care.”