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 Who is Paris Whitney Hilton? Why is she so famous? What's with all the questions? Before Paris, "Hilton" was associated with the Hilton hotels, a luxury hotel franchise founded by Conrad Hilton (which makes 3.853 billion dollars a year). Paris was born on February 17, 1981 to Rick and Kathy Hilton. This makes Paris the great-granddaughter of C. Hilton, who I mentioned a sentence ago. WHICH MEANS that Paris will inherit $50 million of his $1 bil fortune. Her early educational background included the prestigious Dwight School in New York. She dropped out but earned her GED and opted not to attend University. She had been receiving weird letters from a stalker which is why she had dropped out (and she had said in the past that she didn't really like school). She pursued modelling afterward and modeled for Tommy Hilfiger, when she met Jason Shaw.
Paris became engaged to Jason Shaw in 2002 and it ended in early 2003 for reasons unknown. Her family had loved Jason so they were sad it didn't work out. But Paris was brought to the public eye because she was being photographed constantly and nobody knew who she was. She was coined as a "celebutante" because she went to parties and was a celebrity in her own right. But the paparazzi loved her. She became their favorite girl (and has been ever since). She had also done a few movies before Simple Life, like Nine Lives.
 Paris was approached by FOX to do a reality show with Nicky where they'd live simply, therefore, "The Simple Life" was born. Nicky didn't want to do it since she was busy with fashion school (she was in school to become a fashion designer) so Paris suggested her best friend since the age of 4, Nicole Richie. They taped it in Arkansas and aired on December 2, 2003. But a few weeks before that, a sex tape leaked on the internet starring Paris and then boyfriend Rick Salomon having sexual encounters. Then spawned the DVD "One Night in Paris" which became a hit, which was not good. So Paris sued him and received $400,000 and a percentage of profits, which she had donated to charities she supports. This sex tape literally catapulted Paris into a household name and Simple Life ratings were insanely high. Paris stayed out of the public eye for awhile (when she went to the Simple Life premiere, she was wearing a business suit).
 When Paris stepped back into the spotlight, she had a new beau named Nick Carter, the youngest member of the Backstreet Boys. It was said that he had his bodyguard talk to her bodyguard to arrange a meeting. Paris herself said that she wasn't interested in him but thought he was nice so she gave him a shot. They dated for awhile and then broke up after she finished filming Simple Life 2. But pictures of Paris surfaced with her bruised up incredibly badly. People immediately pointed fingers at Nick, but Paris said she bumped into something (which couldn't be so as the bruises were on her lip, above her eye, arm, etc). Paris wouldn't rat him out to the dismay of tabloids.
 About Paris's love life: she dated a few other guys after Nick Carter, but it wasn't until 2005 that she had a keeper (or so she thought) but we'll get to that later. Simple Life 2 premiered and that was a hit so Simple Life 3 was on its way to being made. In 2004, Paris spent months in Australia filming a movie remake of Vincent Price's "House of Wax" starring other Young Hollywood A-Listers, Chad Michael Murray, Jared Padalecki, and Elisha Cuthbert. This was her first starring role since The Hillz (a movie with Jason Shaw) and most of the taglines were attributed to Paris (such as "Want to see Paris Die?") and the movie was basically on her shoulders. The movie did modestly at the box office which led to more roles for Paris. She also became the Guess? girl. She joined the ranks of other famous Guess girls such as Drew Barrymore and Anna Nicole Smith. Besides that campaign, she also did P. Diddy's "Vote or Die" campaign (but did not vote that year).
 Paris was becoming a hot commodity. In 2005, Paris had shot a controversial commercial for Carls Jr. in which she hosed down a car and ate a burger - looking glamorous for something that really wasn't. The commercial angered conservatives and the commercial wasn't aired on TV anymore. In late 2004, Simple Life 3 was being filmed. There were whispers from those following them that Nicole and Paris were not getting along. 2004 also saw the launch of Paris's perfume, which sold extremely well and led to other spinoffs such as Just ME and a scent for men as well. Back to 2005 - Paris became engaged in May of that year to Greek shipping heir Paris Latsis, a college student at UCLA and is possibly part of the richest family in the world. By September 2005, they had broken up their engagement because Paris Latsis' family was pushing him to not marry the socialite. Also that year, Paris and Nicole broke off their friendship, putting the Simple Life series in a bit of a jeopardy. Paris suggested her friend Kimberly Stewart, but Nicole was signed to a contract. Later that year, FOX announced that they had no room on their lineup for The Simple Life, so E! channel bought the series and will air it on June 6, 2006. They do not share any scenes together (except for maybe one, but they don't speak at all) and filmed the entire thing separately. Adding onto this, Paris released a book entitled "Confessions of an Heiress: A Tongue in Chic Peek Behind the Pose" written alongside Merle Ginsberg. The book is fairly cheeky indeed, and is to be taken lightly with a grain of salt. The book gives tips on how to be an heiress and how to dress like Paris. The book is literally packed with thousands of pictures of her. The book did extremely well, leading to a "sequel", if you will entitled "Your Heiress Diary: Confess It All To Me" in which people can write in it whatever they wish.
 2006 saw that Paris's relationship with another Greek shipping heir, Stavros Niarchos, appeared to have staying power. They had been dating since October 2005 but then broke up in May 2006. He was said to have been extremely upset by the breakup and was crying outside of her house at 3 in the morning. Also 2006 will hopefully see the release of Paris's debut album (which she had started on in 2004) and the release of 2 of her movies, an independent movie alongside Jay and Silent Bob star Jason Mewes entitled Bottoms Up and a fun film called Pledge This!, part of the National Lampoon franchise. There is no doubt that the name "Hilton" no longer means JUST hotels. Paris has redefined what it means to be an heiress and socialite. She is the modern day "celebrity" and judging from her resume, she no longer has to worry about people thinking she is famous for doing nothing. It seems now that she is famous for doing everything.
Original biography written by Natasha. Copyright 2006. Not to be removed from this site without EXPRESSED permission from the author. |
