Paris Hilton

Hilton was a guest judge for the premiere episode of James Charles's YouTube series Instant Influencer, which was released on April 24, 2020. Filmmaker Ramez Silyan's narrative short film Sorry, which Hilton produced and appeared in, was released in May 2020. Filmed in 2018, she first read the script with then-fiancé Chris Zylka and decided to appear and help finance the project. Describing her involvement to Paper magazine, Silyan stated: "She is Paris Hilton —she controls a room. She comes into the room and she's very nice, she says hi to everybody. And you don't get started until she's ready to get started, because that's just the way it goes". On May 6, she presented a merchandise collection, which includes T-shirts, hoodies and sweatshirt featuring one of her trademark catchphrases; "sliving", "loves it", and "that's hot". A Youtube documentary, This is Paris, which focuses on her personal and professional trajectory, is slated to launch later in 2020.

During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, Hilton performed a DJ set at the virtual music festival #TrillerFest, to drive donations for No Kid Hungry and Music Cares, and a portion of the proceeds from her merchandise collection went to Frontline Foods and local restaurants feeding frontline workers.

In February 2019, Hilton modeled again for The Blonds at NYFW, while Philipp Plein's Plein Sport campaign —in which she appeared— was officially launched. In March, she walked the runway for Christian Cowan's Powerpuff Girls fashion show at Los Angeles, and in April, she was a special guest in the twelfth episode of Germany's Next Topmodel's 14th cycle. "B.F.A. (Best Friend's Ass)", her song with Belgian production duo Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, was released on May 10, 2019. Kim Kardashian and other social media personalities appeared in the music video. The song peak at number 45 on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Songs chart, and at number 25 on Belgium's Ultratop chat. On May 30, Hilton was announced as a partner and investor of demand beauty platform The Glam App. On July 19, she released "Lone Wolves", a song with vocalist MATTN, which peaked at 59 on Ultratop. Two days later, she performed as a DJ in Tomorrowland. Electrify —her 25th fragrance— came out in September.

In January 2018, Hilton modeled Kanye West's Yeezy Season 6 collection by recreating paparazzi photos of Kim Kardashian. She released "I Need You" as a digital download on February 14, 2018 (Valentine's Day). It debuted at number 48 and peaked at number 32 on the Dance Club Songs Billboard chart. In June, Hilton was a model on Philipp Plein's Plein Sport fashion show in Milan, and launched both her 70-piece collection with Boohoo.com, and her skincare line. In September, Hilton channeled Cruella de Vil for The Blonds show and modeled for Namalia during New York Fashion Week, in October, she partnered with Nail and Bone to create five nail polishes named after her dogs, and in November, she presented a clothing collection in Mexico.

In 2018, Hilton was what was described as "the centerpiece" of two projects about social media and various personalities' online presence. The documentary The American Meme premiered on Netflix in December 2018, after screening at the Tribeca Film Festival. It was written and directed by Bert Marcus, and she was one of the executive producers. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 93 rating based on 28 reviews, with Hilton receiving acclaim for showing her vulnerability and giving audiences a glimpse into the dark side of fame. Decider reports, "In a series of quiet, reflective interviews, [she] explains why she trusts her fans more than her friends and dissects the risqué David LaChappelle photoshoot that transformed her into a household name." She also hosted Hollywood Love Story, a six-episode series that aired on Viceland.

Actor Chris Zylka proposed to her with a ring worth US$2 million in January 2018, during a vacation in Aspen, after one year of dating. They called off their engagement in November 2018. She is in a relationship with businessman Carter Reum at the moment.

In October 2018, Hilton hosted Rock The Runway, an event benefitting Children's Miracle Network Hospitals and The Sasha Project LA. 20 percent of the proceeds from her 2018 five-nail polishes line with Nail and Bone goes to Animal Haven, a New York-based non-profit rescue group. In June 2019, Hilton was part of the annual, all-female Cash & Rocket auto rally, which took place across Europe and raised money for Sumbandila, The Helen Bamber Foundation and Dream for Future Africa Foundation.

In February 2017, Hilton walked the runway at Christian Cowan's fall show in New York City. For April Fools' Day, she starred in a SodaStream's viral campaign, promoting NanoDrop, a fictitious sparkling-water product that claims to be 5,000 times more hydrating than regular water; Weizmann Institute of Science professor Ron Naaman even appeared endorsing the product. Adweek found her to be "very entertaining and self-deprecating" in the video, for which a website and Facebook page were launched in the days leading up to its "presentation". She appeared in the video for the Demi Lovato song "Sorry Not Sorry", which premiered in July 2017. In September 2017, she modeled at the Philipp Plein show during Milan Fashion Week. A video for "I Don't Want It at All", the debut single of Kim Petras, was released in October featuring Hilton in a cameo. In 2017, she also launched footwear and home decor lines in Mexico City.

In recent years, Hilton has grown an online and social media presence, including millions of followers on Twitter and Instagram. She has relied heavily on those platforms to communicate with fans and followers, and is noted for her self-deprecating posts. In 2017, Vice asserted: "Perhaps most importantly, Hilton's tweets have introduced her to members of Generation Z, who didn't get to know the starlet via The Simple Life. Only toddlers during the heyday of MySpace, Generation Z-ers have always lived in a culture filled with reality stars, but Hilton's self-referential (and sometimes self-roasting) memes illustrate how she pioneered both being famous for being famous and also the archetype of the cheeky reality star who plays along with the public".

In August 2017, Hilton received scrutiny for comments she made during a previous interview on the women who accused Donald Trump of sexual harassment and sexual assault, seemingly accusing them of trying to get attention. Hilton later clarified: "I want to apologize for my comments from an interview I did last year [...] They were part of a much larger story and I am regretful that they were not delivered in the way I had intended. I was speaking about my own experiences in life and the role of media and fame in our society and it was never my intention for my comments to be misapplied almost a year later".

In March 2015, Hilton released her 19th fragrance, a limited edition of her second fragrance, Heiress, and Animoca Brands, a mobile game developer from Hong Kong, announced that they had secured a license from Hilton to use her name and likeness to produce mobile games and themes. In May, her third single under Cash Money, "High Off My Love", was released. It eventually peaked at number three on the Billboard US Dance Club Songs chart. In June, she performed at Summerfest, in Milwaukee, in front of 50,000 concert-goers. While an online campaign to get her thrown off the bill achieved over 7,000 votes, reception from the audience was more positive than the buzz generated prior the festival. In 2016, Hilton teamed up with Lidl for a hair care collection, and released her 20th fragrance, Gold Rush, followed by its male counterpart, Gold Rush for Men; she subsequently released Rosé Rush, in 2017, and Platinum Rush, in 2018.

Between 2015 and 2017, Hilton was the target of an identity theft scheme by Paytsar Bkhchadzhyan, a woman who used Hilton's credit cards to book a party at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel worth around $53,000. She also pretended to be Hilton in emails to her employees, convincing them to transfer $106,000 to her account, and hacked her sister Nicky and father Rick Hilton in an attempt to gain passwords to various other accounts. She also stole nude photos of Hilton from her iCloud account. Bkhchadzhyan was arrested in 2017 for bank fraud conspiracy, and was later sentenced to 57 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution.

In August 2015, Hilton raised US$100,000 for children with disabilities in Ibiza. In February 2017, Hilton donated 50 of her personal items to the Children's Hospital Los Angeles and the Starlight Children's Foundation, and in November that year, she visited San Gregorio Atlapulco, Mexico, where she handed out food and clothes to the affected families following the 2017 Central Mexico earthquake; she donated her merchandises (perfume and cushion) and also US$350,000 to help rebuild seven different homes that were affected.

In January 2014, Hilton became a resident DJ at Harrah's Atlantic City's "The Pool After Dark". In March, she unveiled her first real estate project, the Paris Beach Club, in collaboration with Century Properties Group, Inc., at the Azure Urban Resort Residences in Parañaque, the Philippines. In July, her next single, "Come Alive", was released, and she made a cameo appearance in another Carl's Jr. commercial, paying homage to the one in which she starred in 2005. To further her career as a DJ, Hilton embarked on a summer and fall tour consisting of 13 shows in Spain, France, Portugal, South Korea, Colombia and New Jersey. In November, she won as Best Female DJ at the NJR DJ Awards, and in December, she worked as a DJ at W Hotel's annual Art Basel parties in Miami (she has performed there from that year onward). By the end of 2014, Hilton was the highest-paid female DJ.

—Geraldine Carton of Image magazine in 2018

Hilton is known for her love of small dogs, and has had a female Chihuahua named Tinkerbell among many other pets. Hilton was frequently seen carrying Tinkerbell (dubbed an "accessory dog") at social events and functions, and in all five seasons of television reality show The Simple Life. In September 2014, she bought a Pomeranian dog, worth US$13,000, and in January 2015, she spent US$25,000 on two more, one for herself and another for her mother as a 35th anniversary gift. In April 2015, it was reported that Tinkerbell had died at the age of 14. Hilton had a 300-square-foot home with air conditioning, heating, and designer furniture built for her pets at an estimated cost of US$325,000.

In 2014, an "obsessed fan" flew a plane over Malibu with two banners, one of which read, "Can't Get Paris Whitney Hilton Out of My Mind." The other read, "Mr. & Mrs. Hilton, may I court your daughter Paris?" In 2015, the same person reportedly posed as a flower deliveryman to gain access to her gated community, where he left her a classic Cadillac.

In October 2014, Lukas Redanz was completely covered with tattoos of Hilton, and he appeared to be "extremely drunk" when he went to her gated community to see her. Guards called the police and the man was arrested for possession of cocaine. In December 2014, Hilton filed a report with the Los Angeles Police Department after being the subject of anti-Semitic attacks on social media by a man who believed that she was Jewish; he threatened to rape and kill her.

In January 2013, Hilton appeared in four episodes of the Danish version of Paradise Hotel, for which she was paid US$300,000, and also appeared in two episodes of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, in which her aunts Kyle and Kim Richards star. In April, Hilton opened the 44th Paris Hilton store in Bogotá, Colombia. In May, Hilton signed with Cash Money Records, appeared in the music video for Rich Gang's song "Tapout", alongside Lil Wayne, Christina Milian and Nicki Minaj, and Sofia Coppola's film The Bling Ring—which featured her in a cameo and revolved around the infamous group of teenagers who had robbed her house, along with others—was released in theaters, to a positive critical response. In addition to appearing in the film, she loaned Coppola her house for two weeks of shooting. Recalling the house, Coppola said: "It was like we have to get this into the movie. It was so unique. It would be hard to recreate that. She is larger than life and her house is like Paris World."

During August 2013, Hilton was a DJ at Amnesia's weekly "Foam and Diamonds" parties on Ibiza. The positive reaction from critics and audiences led to her contract's renewal for the subsequent four years. In October, Hilton released the first single through Cash Money, "Good Time", featuring rapper Lil Wayne. It debuted at number eighteen on the US Billboard Dance/Electronic Songs chart. In November, Hilton won the Best Breakthrough DJ award at the NRJ DJ Awards.

While Hilton has commanded up to US$750,000 and US$1 million for appearances in parties and promotional events, her regular fee is around US$250,000–US$300,000. Much of her income, though, comes from her retail businesses, which include 50 stores and 19 product lines, and have generated sales of over US$3 billion. Since debuting as a DJ in 2012, she has been paid as much as US$1 million for a single set, and in 2014, she earned US$2.7 million for four nights work—US$347,000 an hour—as part of her two-month residence in Ibiza.

In February 2012, Hilton introduced a new line of sunglasses in Shanghai, and in May, she released her fifteenth perfume, Dazzle. In June, Hilton made her debut as a DJ at a Brazilian pop-music festival, attracting negative responses from DJs Deadmau5, Samantha Ronson and Afrojack.

In August 2012, her footwear line was nominated for the Best Celebrity Licensee of the Year award at the International Licensing Excellence Awards, and the socialite appeared in a music video for Korean singer Kim Jang-hoon, which was filmed on Malibu Beach. She was paid US$1 million for her appearance in the video, which premiered in 3D in October 2012. In November, Hilton opened a store in Mecca; since it is considered the "holiest city in the Muslim world" and Saudi Arabia is a conservative country, controversy about her personal life swirled on Twitter. In early December, she modeled for designers Shane and Falguni Peacock at India Fashion Week, also appearing as a DJ.

Despite the public's negative perception on her, Hilton is considered a pop culture and gay icon. She attributes much of her success to her gay fan following, and while the derogatory comments she made in 2012 caused a hit in her popularity with the LGTBQ community, Gay Times, which featured her in its December 2018 cover and main issue, described her as an "ally" who uses "her platform as an advocate for minority groups".

On September 20, 2012, an audio recording of Hilton making derogatory comments about gay people was posted on the Internet. That day, following the backlash caused, she issued an apology through GLAAD in which she said she was a "huge supporter of the gay community" and called gay people "the strongest and most inspiring people I know". As a result of her remarks, Logo TV canceled plans to air a documentary about her (Paris Hilton Inc).

On May 12, 2011, Hilton opened her third store in the Philippines, at the Abreeza Mall in Davao City. On June 1, she returned to reality television in Oxygen's The World According to Paris. The show, which followed her daily life, was not a success, which led to a belief that Hilton's popularity was fading. The New York Times described her as an "attractive woman with proven talent for marketing and self-promotion, though as a reality heroine she seems a little passé [...] it's hard to see how she can recapture the kind of audience she enjoyed in her heyday—even by streaming her premiere live on Facebook". She opened her fourth store in the Philippines on August 18, 2011. In September, she introduced a footwear line in Istanbul, and a Paris Hilton store opened in India. Hilton modeled for designer Andre Tan during Ukraine Fashion Week in October 2011.

Beyond her tabloid notoriety, Hilton decided to focus on her business enterprises and career as a DJ. In 2011, she was named a "Billion Dollar Entrepreneur" by Variety magazine, and also one of the "100 Hottest Women of All Time" by Men's Health. In 2012, she ranked fifth on Forbes' Most Over-Exposed list. According to Time, Hilton established herself as the highest-paid female DJ in 2014.

In 2011, two years after the apparent end of Hilton's media dominance, CNN declared that she had transformed fame "more than any other modern-day star", in reference to her influence on the revival of the famous for being famous phenomenon, and leadership in the insurgency of a new type of celebrity, whose private life became an unprecedented focus of public interest. She is credited with creating the professional blueprint for this kind of celebrity, which intensified with the posterior growth of social media, and molding what academic Daniel J. Boorstin called "an image", which "is not simply a trademark, a design, a slogan or an easily remembered picture", but "a studiously crafted personality profile of an individual, institution, corporation, product or service". Paper Magazine called Hilton "the mother of the digital age" in a 2018 article, explaining that throughout her life, "she's attracted the world to monitor her every move —her platinum blonde hair flips, her hot pink velour sweatsuits, her famous fleet of chihuahuas— and yet, Hilton didn't do anything to deserve this attention beyond simply being herself. Now, Hilton's invention has multiplied by the millions across the Internet. Everyone's taking selfies and flaunting their lives to an online audience that obsessively follows, likes, and shares". Bert Marcus, the director of the documentary The American Meme (2018), echoed that sentiment, remarking that she "paved the way for creating a brand and a celebrity out of being herself and she turned it into a phenomenon," while Instagram celebrity and entrepreneur The Fat Jew, who was one of the subjects in the aforementioned documentary, credited her for "inventing the way the world thinks about influence". Galore magazine named her "the Original Reality TV Business Queen" and featured her in its Art Issue 2017.

In 2011, Hilton supported the LGBT rights organisation NOH8, and participated at the American Red Cross run to benefit relief effort in Japan, hosted by actor Josh Duhamel in Santa Monica, CA. In 2014, The American Humane Association awarded Hilton with the National Humanitarian Award.

In February 2010, Hilton participated in an advertising campaign for the Brazilian beer Devassa Bem Loura, whose slogan roughly translates into English as "very blonde bitch". As part of the campaign, she rode the brewery's float in the Rio Carnival. On August 10, Hilton released her 10th fragrance, Tease, which was inspired by Marilyn Monroe. On August 19, she launched a footwear line in Las Vegas. The critically acclaimed documentary Teenage Paparazzo, in which Hilton appeared, aired on HBO on September 27.

She had her first voice-over role in the ABC made-for-television film The Dog Who Saved Christmas Vacation. The film aired on November 28, 2010 and received good ratings, with 2.611 million viewers. In December 2010, Hilton launched her motorcycle team; her Spanish driver, Maverick Viñales, won the final race and finished third overall in the 125cc world championship the following November. She modeled for a second time at the 2011 Brazil Fashion Week (her first time was in early 2010). In February, Hilton introduced a fragrance line, the Passport Collection, with perfumes inspired by cities such as Paris, South Beach, Florida and Tokyo, and also a mobile application which became available for iPhone and iPod touch. The following month, she introduced a footwear collection in Mexico.

In August 2010, Nathan Lee Parada was arrested after security men spotted him wielding two knives outside Hilton's house. He was found guilty on one felony count of attempted first-degree residential burglary and was sentenced to two years in state prison.

In October 2010, James Rainford bicycled past guards at the entrance to her gated community, went to her house, and began pounding on her door. He was arrested and earned three years' probation, along with a restraining order from Hilton. In April 2011, Rainford was arrested a second time for attacking her boyfriend Cy Waits outside Van Nuys Superior Court, where Hilton was headed to testify against Nathan Lee Parada, and he was arrested again in July outside her Malibu, California beach house. He was charged with two felony stalking counts and three misdemeanor counts of disobeying a court order, but a judge found him to be "mentally incompetent to stand trial" and he was sent to a state mental hospital.

On July 2, 2010, Hilton was accused of smoking marijuana at the 2010 FIFA World Cup game between Brazil and the Netherlands. Although she was escorted from the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium by local police, the case was later dismissed. Her publicist, Dawn Miller, said: "I can confirm that the incident was a complete misunderstanding and it was actually another person in the group who did it". Two weeks later, Hilton was detained and released after she was caught with cannabis at Corsica's Figari Sud-Corse Airport.

In August 2010, Hilton was arrested on suspicion of cocaine possession in Las Vegas and her boyfriend, Cy Waits, was charged with driving under the influence. Hilton's defense initially claimed that the handbag (containing 0.8g of cocaine) was not hers: "This purse in question was a high street brand – and by no means up to her high fashion standards." She later claimed personal items (including cash and credit cards) from the bag, acknowledging that it was hers. To avoid a felony conviction, Hilton pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors on September 17, 2010. Under the terms of the plea bargain she was sentenced to one year of probation, 200 hours of community service, a US$2,000 fine and the completion of a drug-abuse treatment program. Clark County District Attorney David Roger said, "If she was arrested for anything besides a minor traffic violation she will spend a year in jail. There will be no discussion. The court will have no discretion."

On September 21, 2010, on their way to a Tokyo press conference to promote fashion and fragrance lines, Hilton and her sister Nicky were stopped by immigration officers at Narita Airport because of Hilton's drug-possession conviction the previous day. Under Japan's strict drug laws, travelers convicted of a drug crime are usually denied entry into the country. Airport officials questioned Hilton "for hours", and she and Nicky were detained overnight at the airport hotel. On September 22 Japanese authorities denied Hilton entry, and she was put on a plane back to the United States. Other stops on their Asian promotional tour were canceled due to Indonesia and Malaysia's anti-drug laws.

As a result of the American version's success, on January 29, 2009 Paris Hilton's British Best Friend debuted on ITV2 in England. The second season of Paris Hilton's My New BFF premiered on June 2, 2009. Hilton shot at the time Paris Hilton's Dubai BFF, which was finally broadcast in 2011. In May 2009, Hilton won the Female Celebrity Fragrance of the Year Award at the 2009 Fifi Awards, in July, her sixth fragrance for women, Siren, was introduced, and in August, she appeared in the fifth episode of Supernatural' s fifth season. She was involved in the creation of a sunglass line by Gripping Eyewear, which she introduced in October, and also in a hair-and-beauty-products line which included shampoos, conditioners and hair vitamins, released in November.

In February 2008, The Hottie and the Nottie, a romantic comedy in which Hilton starred, was released theatrically; the film was a critical and commercial failure, with Hilton eventually receiving the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress. Hilton's love for dogs led her to create a canine apparel line, Little Lily by Paris Hilton, in March 2008. In April 2008, she appeared in the My Name Is Earl episode "I Won't Die with a Little Help from My Friends".

On August 6, 2008 Hilton appeared in an online video, Paris Hilton Responds to McCain Ad, directed by Adam McKay and posted on the Funny or Die website. The video, featuring Hilton in a parody advertisement, was made in response to a television campaign ad ("Celeb") by the 2008 John McCain presidential campaign. In "Celeb" McCain compared Barack Obama to celebrities such as Hilton and Britney Spears, questioning his readiness to lead and criticizing his energy policy. In what The Washington Post said "might just be her best acting role yet", Hilton wore a leopard-print swimsuit in the video. It had seven million views in two days, receiving worldwide press coverage and written and verbal responses from both campaigns.

At the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival a documentary about Hilton, Paris, Not France, was screened. She starred in a MTV reality series, Paris Hilton's My New BFF, about her search for a new best friend, which premiered shortly after, on September 30, 2008. The series was a hit and topped all other cable shows in its time slot. In October, she appeared in a second parody video on Funny or Die, Paris Hilton Gets Presidential with Martin Sheen, with Martin Sheen; Sheen's son, actor Charlie Sheen, made a cameo appearance. Hilton, in a green evening dress and wearing heavy makeup, discusses political issues with Martin Sheen in his West Wing role.

In her next film, the Gothic rock musical Repo! The Genetic Opera, Hilton played Amber Sweet, the surgery and painkiller-addicted daughter of a biotech magnate. After screening at the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con International, the film received a limited release. Horror.com said: "Not only is this by far Hilton's best role, she's actually got a grain of gravitas in the end". However, Jam! Movies called her a "hopeless twit as an actress". She was nominated for the 2009 Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actress for the role. Around that time, Hilton released her fifth fragrance for women, Fairy Dust.

Between 2008 and 2009, Hilton's home was burgled several times by the Bling Ring, a group of fashion-motivated thieves. It was not until nearly US$2 million were stolen in jewelry, clothing, cash, and other items from Hilton that she reported having been burgled.

As a socialite, Hilton has been a frequent guest at fundraising events around the globe, and regularly visits children's hospitals and orphanages when she is abroad. She has been involved with the Starlight Children's Foundation and the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and is listed on the "First Families" of the Children's Hospital Los Angeles, which means she has donated US$100,000 or more to the hospital. In 2008, a room at the hospital was named in her honor, and for her charitable efforts, Starlight awarded Hilton, along with mother Kathy and sister Nicky, the 2011 Heart of Gold Award.

On January 10, 2007, Hilton introduced her DreamCatchers line of hair extensions in partnership with Hair Tech International. Due to her incarceration, The Simple Life finished its run at the end of its fifth season in July 2007. In early August, Hilton signed a licensing agreement with Antebi for a signature footwear line (Paris Hilton Footwear, featuring stilettos, platforms, flats, wedges and a sports collection) which reached stores in 2008. In mid-August, she introduced a line of tops, dresses, coats and jeans at the Kitson Boutique in Los Angeles. In December 2007, she posed nude (covered with gold paint) to promote "Rich Prosecco", a canned version of the Italian sparkling wine, traveling to Germany to appear in print ads for the wine. In 2007, Hilton also modeled for 2 B Free and introduced her fourth perfume, Can Can.

On September 6, 2007, Hilton filed an injunction lawsuit against Hallmark Cards Inc., titled Hilton v. Hallmark Cards, in U.S. District Court over the unlawful use of her picture and catchphrase "That's hot" on a greeting card. The card is titled "Paris's First Day as a Waitress" with a photograph of Hilton's face on a cartoon of a waitress serving a plate of food, with a dialogue bubble saying "Don't touch that, it's hot" (which had a registered trademark on February 13, 2007). Hilton's attorney Brent Blakely said that the infringement damages would be based on profits from the greeting cards. Julie O'Dell said that Hallmark used the card as parody, protected under fair use law. The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reviewed the case and "denied Hallmark's motion to dismiss". Hilton and Hallmark Cards Inc. later settled out of court.

The Huffington Post declared 2007 as the "beginning of the end" of Hilton's tabloid "reign", noting that the "media saturation hit a wall" amid her much-publicized legal issues at the time. In February 2007, the Associated Press attempted to not mention her for a week; a similar attempt was previously made by Lloyd Grove, who banned her from his New York Daily News gossip column in 2004. In June 2007, Us Weekly published its first "100% Paris-Free" issue, and near the beginning of a Morning Joe episode, Mika Brzezinski refused to read a report about Hilton's release from jail. By the end of 2009, a quiet relationship between Hilton and the tabloids had led CNN to write a story asking, "Why has Paris Hilton disappeared?". This suspicion was reinforced in 2011 when her reality show, The World According to Paris, was met with lackluster ratings, and she walked out during an interview with Good Morning America when asked if she was worried about her moment having passed. According to an Ipsos poll that year, she was the most unpopular celebrity with Americans (with 60 percent of respondents viewing her unfavorably).

The World of Warcraft massively multiplayer online role-playing game has featured a character named Haris Pilton, labeled a "socialite", since the release of The Burning Crusade expansion on January 15, 2007. The character remains in the game as of April 2017. She is the source for the name of the blog PerezHilton.com, which posts gossip items about celebrities.

In 2007, a YouTube spoof video titled "Paris in Jail", inspired by her single "Stars Are Blind", was played more than 7 million times by the first month of its publishing. Amber Hay, the actress who portrayed Hilton in the aforementioned video, also portrayed her in the made-for-television film Paparazzi Princess: The Paris Hilton Story (2008). Comedians Breven Angaelica Warren (E! mock television series) and Maya Rudolph (SNL), and television personalities Tyra Banks (The Tyra Banks Show) and Matt Lauer (The Today Show) are among the figures who have also spoofed Hilton's public persona.

On January 22, 2007, her private life became public on ParisExposed.com, a website with images of personal documents, video and other material allegedly obtained when the contents of a storage locker rented by Hilton were auctioned in lieu of a US$208 payment. The website, which charged for online access to the material, had 1.2 million visitors in just over 40 hours. Among its contents were medications, diaries, photographs, contracts, love letters and a video shot by Joe Francis of Girls Gone Wild. Hilton obtained a temporary injunction against ParisExposed.com which shut down the website.

She was required to begin her jail term on June 5, and entered the Century Regional Detention Facility (a women's prison in Lynwood, California) after attending the 2007 MTV Movie Awards on June 3. On June 7, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca signed an order resentencing Hilton to 40 days of home confinement with an electronic monitoring device due to an unspecified medical condition. Baca said, "My message to those who don't like celebrities is that punishing celebrities more than the average American is not justice." He added, "The special treatment, in a sense, appears to be because of her celebrity status ... She got more time in jail." Judge Michael Sauer summoned her to reappear in court the following morning (June 8), since her original sentence specified imprisonment: "No work furlough. No work release. No electronic monitoring." At the hearing, Sauer declined a briefing in chambers by Hilton's attorney on her medical condition and sent her back to jail to serve the original 45-day sentence. When she heard the decision, Hilton shouted "It's not right!" Screaming, she asked to hug her mother. Hilton was moved to the medical wing of the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles, and returned to the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood on June 13. Paris Hilton was released from jail on Tuesday, June 26, 2007.

The socialite was influenced by minister Marty Angelo in jail, referring to a "new beginning" in an interview with talk-show host Larry King on June 28, 2007 (two days after her release) and quoting from Angelo's autobiography (Once Life Matters: A New Beginning). On June 9, Angelo unsuccessfully petitioned Sauer to let him serve the remainder of Hilton's sentence if the judge would release her to an alternative treatment program. Hilton told King during the interview that she had taken Adderall for ADHD since childhood.

In December 2007, Hilton's grandfather Barron Hilton pledged 97 percent of his estate (the Hilton family fortune) to a charitable organization founded by her great-grandfather Conrad N. Hilton: the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. As a result, his grandchildren's inheritance was reduced. An immediate pledge of US$1.2 billion (proceeds from the sale of Hilton Hotels Corporation) was made, with a further US$1.1 billion due after his death. Barron cited the actions of his father, Conrad N. Hilton, as the motivation for his pledge. Conrad (Barron's father) had also left 97 percent of his estate to the foundation, and Barron contested his father's will to regain a sizable amount of the family fortune in a settlement.

Hilton released her self-titled debut album, Paris, on August 22, 2006. The album reached number six on the Billboard 200, and sold over 600,000 copies worldwide. Its first single, "Stars Are Blind", was played on more than 125 pop stations in the U.S. The song was a worldwide hit, reaching the top ten in 17 countries. Critical reception was generally mixed, but AllMusic called the album "more fun than anything released by Britney Spears or Jessica Simpson".

Her film Bottoms Up was released straight-to-DVD in late 2006. Australia's Urban Cinefile, describing Hilton, wrote that she "spends most of her screen time flicking her hair as she delivers lines like 'books are those things you read.'" National Lampoon's Pledge This!, another film in which Hilton starred, was also released in DVD in 2006; she missed its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, protesting the addition of several nude scenes: "I was so angry I snubbed my own premiere." In August 2008 Worldwide Entertainment Group sued Hilton in Miami District Court, alleging that she did not fulfill her contractual agreement to provide "reasonable promotion and publicity" for the film. She received US$1 million for her role. Also in 2006, Hilton licensed her name to Gameloft for their mobile video game Paris Hilton's Diamond Quest.

On August 29, 2006, the mayor of Las Vegas proclaimed the day "Paris Hilton Day" and gave Hilton a key to the city. In 2015, an oblong turtle bought to Murdoch University Veterinary Hospital (Perth, Australia) to have removed a fish hook embedded in the lining of her stomach was named after her. In 2017, she was one of the subjects of an art exhibit called “Nicole Richie's 2007 Memorial Day BBQ”, which was unveiled at Brooklyn's THNK 1994 Museum, by the man who runs the blog Popculturediedin2009.com.

In September 2006, Hilton was arrested and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, with a blood alcohol content of 0.08%. Hilton's driver's license was suspended in November 2006, and in January 2007 she pleaded no contest to a reckless driving charge. Her sentence was 36 months' probation and fines totaling about US$1,500. In January 2007, she was stopped for driving with a suspended license, and signed an agreement that she was not permitted to drive. The next month, she was caught driving 70 mph in a 35-mph zone without headlights at night with a suspended license. Prosecutors in the office of the Los Angeles City Attorney charged that these infractions and her failure to enroll in a court-ordered alcohol-education program violated her probation. On May 4, Hilton was sentenced by Judge Michael T. Sauer to 45 days in jail for the probation violation. She planned to appeal the sentence, supporting an online petition (created on May 5 by Joshua Morales) asking California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for a pardon. A counter-petition to maintain the sentence was posted. Hilton changed lawyers and dropped her plans to appeal.

In February 2005, Hilton hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live, with Keane as the musical guest, and in May, the slasher film House of Wax—her first major film role— was released in theaters, to mixed reviews. Writing for View London, Matthew Turner remarked that Hilton "does better than you might expect", while TV Guide called Hilton "talentless". Her role earned her the Teen Choice Award for Best Scream and the 2005 Razzie for Worst Supporting Actress. She also received a nomination for Best Frightened Performance at the 2006 MTV Movie Awards. House of Wax grossed over US$70 million worldwide. Hilton appeared in a television commercial entitled "Paris Car Wash," promoting Carl's Jr.'s Spicy Burger product, which started airing in May 2005. By the fall of 2005, she had published her second book, Your Heiress Diary: Confess It All to Me, and introduced another fragrance, Just Me.

The Simple Life was canceled by Fox after three seasons in 2005 following a dispute between Hilton and Richie. Neither Richie nor Hilton spoke publicly about their split, although it was speculated that they fell out after Richie showed one of Hilton's homemade sex tapes to a group of their friends. They reconciled in October 2006. After The Simple Life was cancelled, other networks (NBC, The WB, VH1 and MTV) were interested in obtaining the rights for new seasons of the show. On November 28, 2005, E! announced that it had picked up The Simple Life, ordering the production of a fourth season and obtaining the rights to repeat the first three seasons. Shooting for the new season began on February 27, 2006. The fourth-season premiere of the show was a ratings success for its new network.

In 2004, Hilton published her book, Confessions of an Heiress, which became a New York Times Best Seller, in 2005, she starred in the horror film House of Wax, and in 2006, she released her self-titled debut studio album, Paris, which reached number six on the Billboard 200, and respectively produced the successful single “Stars Are Blind”. Hilton returned to reality television in 2008 with the Paris Hilton's My New BFF franchise, in 2011 with The World According to Paris, and again in 2018 with Hollywood Love Story. She has played a number of small roles and cameos in Hollywood films and appeared in the documentaries Paris, Not France (2008), Teenage Paparazzo (2010) and The American Meme (2018). In 2012, Hilton made her debut as a DJ at Brazil's Pop Music Festival. Between 2013 and 2017, she held her own residence at the Amnesia nightclub in Ibiza, and was the highest-paid female DJ in 2014.

In 2004, Hilton continued to venture into screen acting, taking on roles in the films The Hillz and Raising Helen, and guest-starring in episodes of Las Vegas, George Lopez, The O.C., and Veronica Mars. That year, she introduced a lifestyle brand, helping to design a purse collection for the Japanese label Samantha Thavasa. A jewelry line designed by Hilton was sold on Amazon.com shortly after. In the fall of 2004, she released an autobiography co-written by Merle Ginsberg, Confessions of an Heiress: A Tongue-in-Chic Peek Behind the Pose, with color photos and advice on life as an heiress. The book was seventh on The New York Times Best Seller list. Her quote, "Dress cute wherever you go; life is too short to blend in", was added to The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations in September 2009. Hilton was involved in creating a perfume line by Parlux Fragrances. Originally planned for a small release, high demand led to increased availability by December 2004. Its introduction was followed by a 47-percent increase in Parlux sales, primarily of the Hilton-branded perfume. After this success Parlux released several more perfumes with her name, including fragrances for men.

Hilton has been parodied in the South Park episode "Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset" (2004), The Simpsons episode "Homerazzi" (2007), and the Hollywood films White Chicks (2004), Date Movie (2006), Epic Movie (2007), and Meet the Spartans (2008). In 2006, Hilton was one of the parodied subjects in Pink's music video "Stupid Girls", and became a target of the street artist Banksy, when 500 copies of her album in 48 record shops across the United Kingdom were replaced with his own alternative version. His rework of the album featured remixes produced by himself and Danger Mouse. The track list contained satire song titles such as "Why Am I Famous?", "What Have I Done?" and "What Am I For?". He also changed the cover sleeve and booklet to display pictures of the singer topless.

Hilton started dating Greek shipping heir Paris Latsis in December 2004, and they became engaged seven months later. In November 2005, however, they called the impending nuptials off. She next had a relationship with another Greek heir, Stavros Niarchos, whom she dated on and off between December 2005 and March 2007. Hilton dated Good Charlotte guitarist Benji Madden from February until November 2008. An on and off relationship with The Hills star Doug Reinhardt followed, but they broke up definitely in April 2010, when she became concerned that he was using her to further his career. She would next have a one-year relationship with Las Vegas nightclub owner Cy Waits. She dated Spanish model River Viiperi between 2012 and 2014, and businessman Thomas Gross between 2015 and 2016.

Under the title 1 Night in Paris, Salomon began distributing the tape himself in April 2004 through the adult film company Red Light District Video. In July 2004, Salomon dropped his lawsuit against the Hilton family after Paris Hilton's privacy lawsuit was thrown out of court. Salomon and Red Light District Video agreed to pay Hilton US$400,000 plus a percentage of the tape's sale profit. However, in 2013, Hilton made a claim that she never made money off her sex tape:"[I] never made a dollar. I make enough money in nice ways. My fragrance [line] makes enough, I don't need to worry about that."

Hilton's breakout came in 2003, when she starred with her socialite counterpart Nicole Richie in the Fox reality series The Simple Life, in which they lived for a month with a family in the rural community of Altus, Arkansas. The series premiered on December 2, 2003, shortly after the release of Hilton's sex tape, and was a ratings success; its first episode attracted 13 million viewers, increasing Fox's adult 18–49 rating by 79 percent. The high viewership was attributed to the exposure Hilton received for the homemade tape. She became known for her onscreen dumb blonde persona.

While Hilton has always been the subject of media attention due to her excessive and uninhibited jet set lifestyle, the period between 2003 and 2009 is widely agreed to be her heyday. Throughout those six years, Hilton's ubiquitous media presence fed the then-booming online gossip industry, and contributed to her "It Girl" status.

The scandal involving her sex tape in 2003 led Entertainment Weekly to write that, "[w]e in the media have become Paris-ites". In 2004, Hilton was named one of the "10 Most Fascinating People", according to Barbara Walters' annual primetime special ("Paris' Most Shocking Moments"). She was among Google's Top Searches in 2004 and 2006. She ranked 59th, 23rd, 34th and 35th in FHM' s 100 Sexiest Women poll in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2012, respectively, and was 20th and 38th on Maxim magazine's Hot 100 list in 2005 and 2006. In 2005, she was the subject of an episode of E! True Hollywood Story, was named the "Sex Star of the Year" in Playboy's list of the "25 Sexiest Celebrities", and her wax figure by Madame Tussauds was unveiled to coincide with the release of House of Wax. In a poll conducted by the Associated Press and AOL, Hilton was the second-Worst Celebrity Role Model of 2006, behind Britney Spears. In May 2007, Hilton denied calling herself the "iconic blonde of the decade", like Princess Diana and Marilyn Monroe, in Harper's Bazaar. She appeared in the 2007 Guinness World Records as the world's Most Overrated Celebrity.

In 2003, a sex tape featuring Hilton and then-boyfriend Rick Salomon was leaked onto the Internet shortly after the debut of her mainstream TV series The Simple Life. Salomon filed a lawsuit against the company that distributed the tape, and against the Hilton family, whom he accused of tarnishing his reputation by suggesting that he had exploited Hilton. Hilton later sued the company that released the tape, Kahatani Ltd., for $30 million for violation of privacy and emotional distress.

Hilton earned about US$2 million between 2003 and 2004, US$6.5 million between 2004 and 2005, and US$7 million between 2005 and 2006.

Amid her growing public profile, businessman George J. Maloof Jr. paid Hilton to wear a dress made from US$1 million in poker chips and attend the Palms Casino Resort opening in Las Vegas in November 2001, which marked the first of numerous offers for Hilton to show up in nightclubs for promotion. In 2002, she appeared in Vincent Gallo's "Honey Bunny" video, played a "strung-out supermodel" in the 5-minute short QIK2JDG, and starred as a socialite in the straight-to-DVD horror film Nine Lives.

Since her David LaChapelle photoshoot on the September 2001 issue of Vanity Fair, Hilton has graced the covers of numerous international fashion magazines, including US' Ocean Drive, FHM, Maxim, Elle, Nylon, Variety, and Paper; UK's Elle, Es Magazine and Gay Times; France and Turkey's Vogue; Spain's Vanity Fair; and New Zealand's Remix.

Credited with influencing the revival of the famous for being famous phenomenon throughout the 2000s, Hilton was, for a number of years, one of the world's most famous public figures, even appearing in the 2007 Guinness World Records as the Most Overrated Celebrity. Critics indeed suggest that she exemplifies the celebutante —a celebrity not through talent or work, but through inherited wealth and lifestyle. She has parlayed her media fame into an eponymous brand, which includes 19 product lines, 50 boutiques worldwide, and a club resort in Manila, Philippines. Her perfume line alone have brought in over US$3 billion in revenue to date. Variety named her its "Billion Dollar Entrepreneur" in 2011.

After originally modeling as a child at charity events, Hilton signed with Donald Trump's modeling agency, T Management, at age 19. She played an ill-fated character in the independent teen thriller Sweetie Pie (2000), and made a cameo appearance as herself in the comedy Zoolander (2001), with Ben Stiller. Hilton posed alongside her sister Nicky for David LaChapelle in September 2001, in a shoot that appeared in Vanity Fair. On her persona, LaChapelle stated: "Paris had a charisma back then that you couldn't take your eyes off. She would giggle and laugh and be effervescent and take up a room". She also appeared on magazine covers including the UK's Tatler, Italy's Giola and the American FHM.

The unusual nature and extent of her fame is often questioned by critics, as she is not considered an entertainer nor performer. One writer for the ABC News noted: "She's made a lot of money with a hodgepodge of traditional celebrity revenue [...] But what she's best at is being Paris Hilton". Writers indeed suggest that Hilton epitomizes the celebutante: a celebrity for no particularly identifiable reason other than inherited wealth and lavish lifestyle. Refinery29, describing her, asserted: "Paris Hilton is an icon not just of the 2000s, but of a certain widely held image of what inherited wealth, undeserved fame, and American excess looks like".

Indeed, her fame made her a leading figure in the early 2000s popularization of reality television into mainstream pop culture. Vice, in a profile titled "This Is How Paris Hilton Fooled the Entire United States of America", noted that after The Simple Life premiered, "cable channels began programming reality television shows. MTV's second golden age consisted of The Hills; Andy Cohen reinvented Bravo with a repertoire of The Real Housewives, and TLC started teaching Americans about Dance Moms and Honey Boo Boo". The Kardashian family, Heidi Montag, Spencer Pratt, Tila Tequila, Danielle Staub, Alexa Chung, Brittny Gastineau, and Snooki are some of the personalities who have followed in Hilton's footsteps, with varying degrees of success. Moreover, Dazed stated that every "Love Island star who cashes in after the series by collaborating with brands is essentially selling a sort of post-Hilton aspirational glamour". Socialites such as Russia's Ksenia Sobchak and Italia's Elettra Lamborghini have often been hailed as the "Paris Hilton" of their respective countries, due to their similar professional paths and lifestyles. She is aware of her influence, stating that it "makes me feel so happy and proud that I could help inspire others". She has indeed expressed that she "started a whole new genre of celebrity that no one had ever seen before".

Many of the outfits that defined her image in her 2000s heyday —Juicy Couture tracksuits, rhinestones, Von Dutch trucker hats and even "the accessory dog"— have become popular fashion trends. Kendall Jenner recreated Hilton's 21st birthday Julien Macdonald dress for her own in 2017, and she was part of the revival of Juicy Couture that year, even attending their Spring/Summer 2018 presentation at New York Fashion Week. In an article titled "Why Paris Hilton's 2000s Style Is Still Relevant Today", Vogue asserted that the socialite "(turned reality star, turned professional DJ and entrepreneur) undeniably dominated the 2000s scene, when Instagram was nonexistent but paparazzi street style photos were all the rage"; likewise, People magazine wrote in a March 2017 article: "For millennials, Paris Hilton has always been and will always be a living legend. The socialite has come to perfectly define not only the millennial fashion aesthetic, but also a bygone era of celebrity where social media was nonexistent, as were stylists, and getting papped while partying was simply de rigueur".

Hilton has been discussed by journalists and scholars interested in the role of celebrities and their influence through the media as well. Feminist theorist Camille Paglia described her as a "groundbreaking" figure in Hollywood, while in her book The Bling Ring, an account on the group of thieves who robbed Hilton's house, Nancy Jo Sales positioned her as a "celebrity symbol of how destructive individualism ruled the 2000s". As noted by Vice, "[w]ealthy people spent hundreds of dollars on pink Juicy Couture sweatsuits, and affluent parents spent millions on their kids' 16th birthday parties so they could appear on MTV's My Super Sweet 16".

Throughout her life, Hilton's personal life, and especially her extensive list of relationships and romantic associations with other high-profile figures, has drawn a large amount of media attention and public disapproval. In 2000, for instance, the then-19-year-old drew attention from tabloids when she and Leonardo DiCaprio were seen together on the NYC late-night circuit. That led to one of her first magazine profiles, with Vanity Fair, in which she denied that they were involved. She dated actor Edward Furlong in 2000, and poker player Rick Salomon, with whom she filmed her sex tape, in 2001. She was engaged to fashion model Jason Shaw from 2002 to 2003. They have reportedly remained friends since their split. She had a seven-month relationship with singer Nick Carter in 2004; Carter opened up about their relationship in his 2013 autobiography. "Paris was the worst person in the world for me to hook up with," he wrote. "[She] fed my worst impulses as far as partying."

Growing up in Los Angeles, Hilton attended the Buckley School and St. Paul the Apostle School, finishing elementary school in 1995. Her freshman year of high school (1995–96) was spent at the Marywood-Palm Valley School in Rancho Mirage, California. In 1996, Hilton and her family left California for the East Coast. At age 15, she attended Professional Children's School, and at 16, spent one year at the Provo Canyon School for emotionally troubled teens. She then attended the Dwight School before dropping out a few months later. "She knew no one at [Dwight]", said her mother in an interview, while a classmate described her as "sort of more sophisticated. She was different from everybody else". She later earned a GED certification.

Hilton's media exploits started in the late 1990s, when she became a notable fixture in NYC's late-night circuit. According to Vice, The New York Post went from writing about her nine times between 1999 and 2000 to publishing 17 stories about her in 2001. The newspaper once wrote: "The most outrageous [New York City-based heiress] is hotel-darling Paris Hilton, 19, a part-time model with a tendency to flash her thong". By 2001, Hilton had developed a reputation as a socialite, and was hailed as "New York's leading It Girl", whose fame was beginning to "extend beyond the New York tabloids".

Hilton was born in New York City. Her mother, Kathy Hilton (née Kathleen Elizabeth Avanzino), is a socialite and former actress; her father, Richard Howard "Rick" Hilton, is a businessman. Hilton is the oldest of four children; she has one sister, Nicholai Olivia "Nicky" Hilton (born 1983), and two brothers: Barron Nicholas Hilton II (born 1989) and Conrad Hughes Hilton III (born 1994). Her paternal great-grandfather was Conrad Hilton, who founded Hilton Hotels. Her maternal aunts are television personalities Kim and Kyle Richards. Hilton has Norwegian, German, Italian, English, Irish, and Scottish ancestry. She was raised in the Catholic faith.

Paris Whitney Hilton (born February 17, 1981) is an American media personality, businesswoman, socialite, model, singer, actress, and DJ. She is a great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton, the founder of Hilton Hotels. Born in New York City and raised there and in Beverly Hills, California, she began her modeling career as a teenager when she signed with New York-based modeling development agency Trump Model Management. Her late-night persona made her a fixture of tabloid journalism, and Hilton was proclaimed "New York's leading It Girl" in 2001. In 2003, a leaked 2001 sex tape with her then-boyfriend Rick Salomon, later released as 1 Night in Paris, catapulted her into global fame, and the reality television series The Simple Life, in which she starred with her socialite counterpart Nicole Richie, started its five-year run with 13 million viewers, on FOX.