Paris Hilton Speaks Out About Being 'Strangled, Slapped & Watched In The Shower' While At Youth Facility
She's urging lawmakers to make a change.
DFree / Shutterstock Reality star Paris Hilton made an appearance at Capitol Hill on Wednesday to testify against the physical and mental abuse she endured while at a youth facility.
Hilton shared her experience in support of the proposed bill, the Accountability for Congregate Act, which is meant to improve conditions at youth facilities created to discipline troubled teens and children.
Hilton spent 11 months at Provo Canyon School in Utah when she was 17 and, in recent years, has come forward to abuse claims.
Hilton was joined by Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna who drafted the legislation that would be able to give children at the facilities the right to call their parents, be free from physical restraints, and have access to clean drinking water and nutritional meals.
There are currently none of these being made available to the thousands of children in the youth facilities around the country.
What happened to Paris Hilton at Provo Canyon School?
Hilton first revealed her experience as a teenager in four different youth facilities during her YouTube documentary that was released last year.
She spoke about how her parents, Kathy and Rick Hilton, were “promised that tough love would fix” Hilton and she was moved between school from 16 to 18.
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“I was strangled, slapped across the face, watched in the shower by male staff, called vulgar names,” Hilton revealed while speaking at Capitol Hill yesterday.
“Forced to take medication without a diagnosis, not given a proper education, thrown into solitary confinement in a room covered in scratch marks and smeared in blood, and so much more.”
She spent most of her time at Provo Canyon School in Utah, describing the institution as “torture.”
Paris Hilton is hugely critical of facilities for troubled youths.
The 40-year-old also spoke about the “20 years of trauma” and “severe PTSD” that she still has to live with because of the mistreatment she endured at these facilities.
“For 20 years I couldn't sleep at night, as memories of physical violence, the feeling of loneliness, the loss of peers, rushed through my mind when I shut my eyes," Hilton said. "This was not just insomnia, it was trauma.”
Hilton blamed a “systemwide lack of transparency and accountability" from how “the multibillion-dollar troubled teen industry has been able to mislead parents, school districts, child welfare agencies, and juvenile justice systems.”
Many of these youth facilities have been under intense scrutiny over the past few years for the increase of deaths in young children under their care, claims of abuse from workers, and the number of former teenagers who spent time at these facilities speaking out against them.
A report conducted by the National Disability Rights Network, found appalling examples of the kind of mistreatment that happens at youth facilities.
From excessive use of physical force against minors, the overuse of psychiatric medication, and sexual abuse committed by facility employees.
The issues are serious, and happen to thousands of children around the country. Hilton urged President Biden, along with both Democrats and Republicans to pass the bill because “it’s a basic human rights issue.”
“If I'd had these rights and could've exercised them, I would've been saved from over 20 years of trauma and severe PTSD,” Hilton said.
Of course, children shouldn’t be subjected to living in circumstances that can mentally damage them for years to come.
It’s incredibly inspiring to have someone like Paris Hilton, speaking out and urge lawmakers to effect change, especially if it saves these young teeangers from going through the same experience that she had to endure.
“It was just terrifying to be in a place every day where people who work there were sadistic and wanted to torture and hurt children,” Hilton said. “I don't wish that on anyone.”
Nia Tipton is a writer living in Brooklyn. She covers pop culture, social justice issues, and trending topics. Follow her on Instagram.