Paris Hilton has testified to Congress that she was sexually abused and force-fed medication during the time she endured in youth residential treatment facilities.
Hilton, a long-time advocate for children’s welfare and regulation of such facilities, appeared before the House Committee on Ways and Means on Wednesday. The hearing focused on strengthening the child welfare system, and featured testimony from several expert witnesses including Hilton.
The heiress spoke about the time she spent as a child in youth residential facilities, often referred to collectively as the “troubled teen industry.” The 43-year-old told the committee how she was ripped from her bed at home at 16 and taken to the first of four facilities she would end up staying in.
Hilton has previously revealed that her parents sent her to these facilities after she started clubbing and partying at 15.
“These programs promised healing, growth and support, but instead, did not allow me to speak, move freely or even look out a window for two years,” Hilton told the panel.
“I was force-fed medications and sexually abused by the staff. I was violently restrained and dragged down hallways, stripped naked and thrown into solitary confinement.”
Hilton would cope with the abuse she endured in these facilities by pretending to be someone else, she told The Independent last year.
“I was in so much pain that I created this Barbie doll fantasy life,” Hilton said. “It was a character I put on as a mask to protect myself.”
On Wednesday, Hilton said that she supports the committee’s bipartisan efforts to reauthorize a child welfare improvement act – Title IV-B of the Social Security Act -which expired in 2021.
The heiress also called on lawmakers to pass the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act, which would establish a federal working group on youth residential programs. That working group would then submit recommendations on how to improve the safety and treatment of kids placed in residential programs.
Hilton told the committee that youth residential programs often care more about profit than children’s safety.
“That means that they’re trying to spend as little money as possible, and the type of employees they’re hiring are people not being checked, people that should be nowhere near children,” Hilton testified.
Hilton has previously identified Utah’s Provo Canyon School, a youth residential facility, as one of the places she faced abuse. The school has faced multiple lawsuits, threats to their licenses and reports of abuse from several students,The Salt Lake Tribune reported.
The school said they could not comment on Hilton’s allegations when they first came to light as they have since switched management.
“What we can say is that the school provides a structured environment teaching life-skills, providing behavioral health therapy, and continuing education for youth who come to us with pre-existing and complex emotional, behavioral and psychiatric needs,” the school said in a 2021 statement.
Hilton encouraged lawmakers to bring in regulations that require these programs to allow children to speak to their parents or a trusted adult alone.
“All of my outside contact was completely controlled, and they would always have a staff member sitting right next to me,” Hilton said of her time in the programs.
“So, if I said even one negative thing about facility, they immediately would hang up the phone and then I would be punished, and either physically beaten or thrown into solitary confinement.”
Lawmakers praised Hilton’s testimony throughout the hearing.
“Ms Hilton, I want to thank you for your compelling and corageous testimony today, and the work you’ve been doing not only to highlight the problems you’ve faced, but the problems that many others face on a day-to-day-basis,” Representative Mike Thompson said.
“Ms Hilton, I first read about your story in Vanity Fair. I don’t usually read that magazine, my wife does. She told me, ‘You have to read this story. You won’t believe what happened to her,’” Representative Mike Kelly said. “You telling what happened to you…is absolutely incredible and opens up a whole new vision for the rest of us.”
Hilton also shared a moment with Representative Claudia Tenney: ““I love your jacket,” Hilton told the lawmaker. “The sparkles are amazing.”
“I had a little bling here for today,” Tenney responded.
Hilton also appeared before Congress in 2021, where she advocated for lawmakers to adopt a “Bill of Rights” for children in residential facilities.
On Wednesday she said that she hopes her testimony makes a difference in the lives of children like her.
“It’s an honor and a pleasure to be able to do this for the children who have no voice and be the hero that I needed when I was a little girl terrified in these places,” she said.