Paris Hilton is sharing a painful perspective on the infamous sex tape largely considered responsible for launching her professional career.
As we’ve been following, the 39-year-old The Simple Life star has a deeply personal new Youtube documentary coming out this September called This Is Paris, where she’ll open up about past trauma, relationships, and her rise to stardom, including how the explicit home movie she created ex-boyfriend Rick Salomon changed her life forever.
Related: Paris Hilton Says She Was Physically Abused By Five Of Her Exes
According to a preview of the special obtained by The Sun, in one interview, Paris claims she never leaked the tape herself and only made it with Salomon because she desperately wanted to please her man. She reportedly choked back tears while explaining the regrettable decision:
“That was a private moment with a teenage girl not in her right head space. But everyone was watching it and laughing, like it’s something funny.”
Over a decade later, the entrepreneur has had time to reflect on the experience and make the astute observation that the video — titled and released in porn shops as One Night In Paris — likely would not receive the same reception if it were released in this day and age:
“If that happened today it would not be the same story at all. But they made me the bad person. Like I did something bad. It was my first real relationship. Eighteen. I was so in love with him and I wanted to make him happy.”
She’s absolutely right. What was at the time considered a salacious celeb scandal would today be a crime — since she didn’t ever want it distributed, the tape would probably be ruled revenge porn now.
She continued:
“And I just remember him pulling out the camera. And he was kind of pressuring me into it. It was like being electronically raped.”
Ugh. That sounds so awful.
As you’ll likely recall, the tape was filmed in 2001 but wasn’t leaked until 2003 shortly before the debut of her former reality series alongside Nicole Richie. While it did much to add to her relevancy and push her into the spotlight at the time, it sounds like she and fellow sex tape star-turned-celebrity Kim Kardashian West can relate to the bittersweet (but mostly bitter) feeling that comes with it in hindsight.
Plus, based on her words, Paris’ experience didn’t sound fully consensual — and followed a long line of abuse that started during her teenage years while attending boarding school.
Along with the fame came a public and messy lawsuit with her ex; Rick filed a lawsuit against the company that distributed the tape after its release AND against the Hilton family, who he accused of ruining his reputation by suggesting he exploited Paris. Paris countersued him and Kahatani Ltd., the company that released the tape for $30 million for violation of privacy and emotional distress. The suit was settled out of court in 2005 and Hilton was reportedly awarded $400,000 for the video. Rick ultimately cashed out after he began distributing the tape himself and collected upwards of $10 million for it within the first year, per TMZ.
We’re so glad Paris was able to move past that point in her life and go on to bigger and better things. We’ll be able to hear more of her truth when the documentary airs in full on September 14. Will U be watching, Perezcious readers? Check out the trailer (below) and let us know your thoughts in the comments section.
[Image via Adriana M. Barraza/WENN]
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