{"id":100352,"date":"2025-04-14T08:06:17","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T08:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/?post_type=articles&p=100352"},"modified":"2025-04-14T08:06:14","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T08:06:14","slug":"paris-hilton-grazia-usa-spring-2025-cover-story","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/paris-hilton-grazia-usa-spring-2025-cover-story\/","title":{"rendered":"GRAZIA USA Spring Cover Star: We’ll Always Have Paris Hilton"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Paris
Monse dress, monse.com; Paum\u00e9 Los Angeles necklace, bracelet, paumelosangeles.com; Hilton\u2019s own gloves.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Words by Marshall Heyman<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

The first few months of 2025 have been a sobering time for Paris Hilton. Her Malibu house was destroyed in the January California wildfires.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t even know until we saw it on the live news,\u201d says Hilton. Her husband, entrepreneur Carter Reum, noticed a blue door among the rubble. \u201cIt was completely shocking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hilton posted a short video tour<\/a> on TikTok of the remains of the home, with the gorgeous Malibu sun setting in the background. It\u2019s a devastating 20 seconds of film.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat breaks my heart even more is knowing that this isn\u2019t just my story,\u201d she wrote. \u201cSo many people have lost everything. \u2026 And yet, in this pain, I know I\u2019m incredibly lucky. My loved ones, my babies, my pets are safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Paris
Lapointe dress, shoplapointe.com; Paum\u00e9 Los Angeles necklace, paumelosangeles.com.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was particularly thoughtful and moving, a sentiment that only grew as Hilton took actual action. Her \u201cimmediate instinct,\u201d she says, was to harness her celebrity and social media reach to help out the community. She contacted Rebecca Grone, the head of impact at her company, 11:11 Media. \u201cShe helps me with all the advocacy work and philanthropic efforts,\u201d says Hilton. Hilton and her media company, which she founded in 2021, started lending a hand to animal shelters as well as charities like Baby2Baby, which provides necessities for families in poverty, and FireAid.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018Let\u2019s just see what we can do to support,\u2019\u201d Hilton says. \u201cThat\u2019s been the silver lining, seeing people coming together.\u201d On her own, she fostered Zuzu the dog, posting a video reuniting the animal with his family later in January. She went to Pasadena to work with the Humane Society. \u201cSo many animals were coming in all burned,\u201d she says. She helped put people up in hotels, visiting them, and \u201cbringing surprises,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I\u2019ve been trying to do whatever I can to raise funds.\u201d In total, as of late January, her efforts have raised over a million dollars for Los Angeles fire emergency relief efforts. (It\u2019s particularly important to Hilton that people know what charities they can trust.)<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI had created this kind of Barbie doll, perfect life character to be like a mask.\u201d<\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\"Paris
Gucci top, skirt, gucci.com; Ferrari sunglasses, store.ferrari.com.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a way, all the work, both on the ground and on Instagram, has helped Hilton shift focus away from her own legitimate sadness about the recent turn of events in her city and, of course, at her own home.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if it\u2019ll ever be the same again,\u201d she says of her home city. \u201cIt\u2019s like something out of a scary movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

On a more micro level, the Malibu house was a place where \u201cwe were going to build all these memories together,\u201d explains Hilton. Every once in a while she\u2019ll recall something else destroyed and lost to the ashes. \u201cMy notebooks where I wrote my songs. My art room with the art that [two-year-old son] Phoenix made. Every day, I\u2019m looking at old videos and photos, remembering things we lost that I didn’t even think about before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phoenix and his sister, one-year-old London, \u201chave been so confused,\u201d she adds. \u201cUprooting them from their homes is hard for them. Just the act of rushing out of the house. We had to evacuate twice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Paris
Lapointe dress, shoplapointe.com; Paum\u00e9 Los Angeles necklace, paumelosangeles.com; Hilton\u2019s own ring.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The kids, like their parents, need to get used to a new normal. \u201cUsually every day we get a walk in the park, and Phoenix keeps asking, \u2018Why can\u2019t we go outside?\u2019\u201d Hilton recounts, but she is particularly concerned about her kids spending a lot of, if any, time outside, because of the poor air quality from the burning of asbestos and chemicals.<\/p>\n

She and Reum are doing what they can. \u201cWe have lots of air purifiers and masks for when we go outside, and we take precautions to keep them safe,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019ll just pray that we\u2019ll continue to get rain.\u201d But they\u2019re concerned about the potential long-term effects of the fires.<\/p>\n

The \u201ctoxic air,\u201d as she calls it, \u201cis the one thing that has made me consider\u201d leaving Los Angeles, Hilton explains. \u201cBut I don\u2019t think I could. All my family and work is here. I love it here so much, and I can\u2019t see myself living anywhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hilton\u2019s serious and mature attitude in these terrible circumstances feels like a far cry from the Paris Hilton we used to know. Now 43, when she first caught the attention of the media 25 years ago, she was depicted as an unrelenting party girl with little substance, out every night since the age of 13. She was something of a punching bag, and it would be hard to find an article or news piece from those days that didn\u2019t make fun of her even a little bit or demean her as a spoiled heiress. In a lot of ways, she played along, she says.<\/p>\n

\"Paris
No.21 dress, numeroventuno.com; Paum\u00e9 Los Angeles earrings, paumelosangeles.com.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI had created this kind of Barbie doll, perfect life character to be like a mask,\u201d Hilton says. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to talk about certain things. That way I wouldn\u2019t have to let anyone in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cPeople wouldn\u2019t even think to ask any traumatizing questions. It was this whole protection over the pain.\u201d<\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Hilton insists she was always herself with her close friends and family. But \u201cwith the public, I had this character:\u201d a blonde, sometimes ignorant airhead. It was a persona cemented by five seasons of the hit reality show A Simple Life<\/em>, in which she starred opposite her good friend Nicole Richie.<\/p>\n

Hilton explains now that it was fun to play that character, the Paris Hilton with \u201cthe higher voice\u201d who overused expressions like \u201cThat\u2019s hot\u201d and \u201cLoves it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Paris
Versace dress, versace.com; Paum\u00e9 Los Angeles crown, necklace, paumelosangeles.com; Hilton\u2019s own gloves and ring.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI was playing with my playful side,\u201d she explains now, in our long interview. \u201cI don\u2019t know if it was easier [to be that Paris], but I guess it made it easier.\u201d In effect, it also helped put up a Marilyn Monroe\u2013like wall where she was as much a creation of the media as of herself. Interviews could remain surface. So could interactions out and about.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople wouldn\u2019t even think to ask any traumatizing questions,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was this whole protection over the pain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Choosing to be the more authentic Paris has its own complications. \u201cIt\u2019s maybe harder now to do interviews. I\u2019m naturally a very shy person,\u201d she says. But it\u2019s also enabled her to find her real voice, one that comes from her heart and soul. She can speak her truth, and the world still watches. They haven\u2019t changed the channel, and they don\u2019t seem to be doing so anytime soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get stronger and stronger every day,\u201d Hilton says. \u201cI\u2019m being a voice for people.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Versace dress, versace.com; Paum\u00e9 Los Angeles crown, necklace, paumelosangeles.com; Hilton\u2019s own gloves and ring.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The genuine turning point came during the filming of her documentary, the 2020 movie This Is Paris.<\/em> The intention of the movie was to show a different side of Hilton, to try to reclaim the person she\u2019d lost to those hundreds of posts on TMZ and, well, Perez Hilton. \u201cI had been misunderstood and underestimated for so long,\u201d she says, especially by a media that focused on her nighttime escapades, her teenage transgressions, and that leaked sex tape. She wanted to show that she had worked to be the person she was, and she\u2019d created an internationally recognized brand with tentacles in all sorts of genres.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnough was enough,\u201d Hilton says.<\/p>\n

While filming during a trip to South Korea, \u201cI was emotionally exhausted,\u201d she says. She started opening up to director Alexandra Dean about a severe nightmare she was having, about being kidnapped in the middle of the night. That led to the pair discussing her experience as a teenager. At 16, she\u2019d been tanking in school, and her parents were worried. They decided to send her to a private youth facility in Utah, which started with her being taken from home in her sleep. By Hilton\u2019s accounts, the place was its own daily nightmare. She was thrown in solitary confinement, force-fed medication, and sexually and physically abused.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just couldn\u2019t keep silent anymore,\u201d Hilton says. \u201cAnd it started me on this journey of self-discovery and healing and catharsis. It made me feel very strong that I had survived something so horrific.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Hilton\u2019s own gloves.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She went into more detail in a memoir, Paris,<\/em> published in 2023. She remembers recording the audiobook with four strangers \u201cwho I\u2019d never met in my life\u201d in the room, and \u201cthey were in shock\u201d by the book\u2019s content. \u201cThey were expecting some happy book about some heiress.\u201d<\/p>\n

She spent lots of time in Washington, D.C., openly and autobiographically speaking to congressional committees about the \u201ctroubled teen\u201d industry and its abuses of power. Both the House and the Senate passed the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act<\/a> in December 2024, with President Biden signing the bill into law on Christmas Eve.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn D.C., they\u2019d never seen something pass so fast. I\u2019m just really proud that I kept going back and telling my story. No one has done anything to protect these kids,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s not over yet. I\u2019m going to continue this fight because there\u2019s so much more to do. I hope that\u2019s why people call me iconic.\u201d<\/p>\n

While she sheds the skins of that Barbie character\u2014though, let\u2019s face it, thanks to Margot Robbie, Barbie is kind of a hero herself these days\u2014what else should we know about the \u201creal\u201d Paris?<\/p>\n

\"\"
Dior jacket, belt, earrings, necklace, 800-929-DIOR.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The real Paris Hilton is a \u201chuge tomboy,\u201d she says. \u201cI love doing things with no makeup and being natural and myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

The real Paris Hilton, she continues, is a \u201chuge undercover nerd. I love anything to do with technology, gadgets, and sci-fi.\u201d When prodded, she admits that Alien<\/em> is one of her favorite movies. Lately she\u2019s been enjoying Paradise <\/em>on Hulu, and she misses Westworld<\/em> on HBO.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s an audiobook fiend. She likes to listen to memoirs, like Pamela Anderson\u2019s, which she found she could relate to \u201cso much,\u201d as well as inspirational books, business books, books about troubled teens, and books about ADHD. \u201cI love ADHD books,\u201d she says, rattling off titles such as ADHD for Smart Ass Women<\/em>, ADHD 2.0 <\/em>and ADHD is Awesome<\/em>.<\/p>\n

When she opens a book, it\u2019s usually nightly and to her kids. \u201cI read a lot of bedtime stories,\u201d she says. They all love Clifford the Big Red Dog, especially an interactive edition with fake fur.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Lapointe dress, shoplapointe.com; Paum\u00e9 Los Angeles necklace, paumelosangeles.com; Hilton\u2019s own ring.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Of course, life has changed a lot for Hilton now that she\u2019s a mom of two. She spends downtime making collages and painting with Phoenix and London. \u201cI have an art room at our house,\u201d she says. \u201cWe make little statues out of Play-Doh. We love being creative together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every week, their friends and cousins come over for music class. \u201cThey love singing and dancing,\u201d Hilton says. \u201cAnd they love \u2018Stars Are Blind.\u2019 They like it more than \u2018Baby Shark.\u2019\u201d She\u2019s referring to the 2006 hit song that came out of her first studio album Paris <\/em>and remains, well, a surprisingly iconic classic. (It popped back into the cultural consciousness with a particularly romantic scene in a drugstore in Emerald Fennell\u2019s 2020 Promising Young Woman<\/em>.) Phoenix, she adds, often asks his teacher at school to play his mom\u2019s song \u201cChasin,\u2019\u201d a collaboration with Meghan Trainor from Hilton\u2019s more recent album, last year\u2019s Infinite Icon<\/em>. \u201cThey all dance to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the blink of an eye, Phoenix and London will be able to start raising some hell like, well, their mom did when she was younger.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get scared about thinking about them as teenagers and how fast the world is moving,\u201d Hilton says. \u201cIt also makes me nervous to think about them sneaking out. I know how dangerous the world can be. I\u2019m thinking I\u2019ll make a house so much fun that they won\u2019t even ever want to go out.\u201d She also hopes they won\u2019t sneak out because she\u2019s going to raise them \u201cto be good human beings and love sports and music and to be super busy in school.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Dior jacket, skirt, belt, earrings, necklace, 800-929-DIOR; Hilton\u2019s own gloves.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Even though she\u2019s a woman with a media content company and has produced innumerable hours of social media content, when it comes to her kids, screens, she says, are off-limits. \u201cI\u2019m very strict about that. I\u2019m doing so much research on kids and screens and how horrible it is.\u201d They don\u2019t watch cartoons, she adds, specifically singling out her negative feelings about Cocomelon, the hugely successful animated YouTube channel, which is definitely not allowed. \u201cWe do have movie nights,\u201d she says. \u201cLast weekend we watched the original Little Mermaid<\/em>. The look in their eyes was so cute. We watched it twice. It\u2019s now their favorite movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

Would she want them to experience anything close to the level of fame and attention she has? \u201cI wouldn\u2019t,\u201d Hilton responds. \u201cI\u2019m not going to tell them not to do something, but I\u2019m hoping they don\u2019t want to be so much in this because it\u2019s a lot<\/em>. It\u2019s a difficult thing to go through, but I can make it through anything. I hope that they\u2019ll take after me [in business],\u201d and, she hopes, stay as much as they can behind the scenes.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to continue this fight because\u00a0<\/span>there\u2019s so much more to do. I hope that\u2019s why people call me iconic.\u201d<\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n

To that end, Hilton says she\u2019s starting their business education early. She takes most of her meetings at home with London and Phoenix regularly in earshot. \u201cI would love for my kids to create their own brands,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Monse dress, monse.com; Paum\u00e9 Los Angeles necklace, bracelet, paumelosangeles.com; Hilton\u2019s own gloves.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hilton is already at work on a children\u2019s brand they can possibly take over soon enough, one that includes children\u2019s books and cartoons that, she says, \u201care good for children\u2019s brains.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s just another thing to add to Hilton\u2019s ever-growing list of hyphenates and conquests. She\u2019s already at work on a third album. It helps to have a recording studio at home, she says, so producers can come to her.<\/p>\n

This April, she\u2019ll release her 30th fragrance, which means, she explains, there\u2019s a different smell for every day of the month. \u201cIt\u2019s an art. I\u2019m the best at doing them,\u201d she says of her coterie of scents. \u201cThey\u2019re all like my babies.\u201d This new one is called \u201cIconic.\u201d Do you sense a theme here? In some ways, though, Hilton says it\u2019s an homage to her grandfather Barron who told her, I\u2019m so proud of you. You\u2019ve accomplished more than any woman I\u2019ve ever met. You\u2019re iconic.<\/em><\/p>\n

In May, she\u2019ll release a skincare line. \u201cI have to do it myself. It has real results and real science,\u201d she explains. \u201cI\u2019m obsessed with skincare, and I figured everyone is always asking my beauty secrets.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Dior jacket, belt, earrings, necklace, 800-929-DIOR; Hilton\u2019s own gloves.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hilton credits her ADHD as a kind of superpower. She believes it helps her handle so many different types of projects, to move with ease from one to the next. \u201cI\u2019ve done music, building products, singing, acting, writing, and doing art and everything that I love,\u201d she explains. \u201cIt is a lot to balance being a mom and a businesswoman and now being a pop star.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sure. But is there anything even left to do?<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t gone to space yet,\u201d Hilton says. \u201cI\u2019m kind of scared to go, though. I don\u2019t want the rocket to get stuck, and I don\u2019t want to be bored.\u201d<\/p>\n

She pauses. \u201cI think I\u2019ll stay on Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photography by Daniella Midenge, <\/i><\/strong>Styling by J. Errico<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

Hair by Preston Wada, <\/i><\/strong>Makeup by Melissa Hurkman<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

Photo Coordination by Kimberly Hunt, <\/i><\/strong>Styling Assistance by Darryl Anderson<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

Read GRAZIA USA\u2019<\/em>s Spring Issue<\/a> featuring cover star Paris Hilton<\/a>:<\/strong><\/h4>\n