A Review of Paris Hilton The Memoir
BY STEPHANIE BROWN
If you think you know Paris, think again.
23 JAN - 2025
Because who else can blend wise advice like “The only rule is don’t be boring and dress cute wherever you go” with advocating to Congress for child welfare reforms?
If you think you know Paris, think again. Sure, she was one half of the iconic The Simple Life with Nicole Richie, always in the tabloids, and had the ultimate Y2K party girl aesthetic. But Paris: The Memoir shows the other side to her – surviving a traumatic youth, the carefully curated and purposeful baby voice and persona, and the empire she’s built today.
This book isn’t just a nostalgic trip down the Perez Hilton years of media. It’s a raw, revealing look at the woman behind the brand, told in her own voice. Whether you know this side of her or you’re just here for the tea, this memoir is unputdownable and leaves you with a whole new respect for the original influencer.
The Holy Trinity - Britney, Lindsay and Paris
the holy trinity of the 2000s – Lindsay, Britney and Paris
Paris by Paris Hilton - The Memoir
After reading this book, I cannot stress to you how iconic Paris Hilton is.
Being a 90s baby, I grew up in the early 2000s seeing images of Paris, Britney and Lindsay falling out of clubs, watching Paris and Nicole Richie toy with small town folk on their reality show ‘The Simple Life’, and absolutely thrashed the shit out of Paris’s debut song ‘Stars Are Blind’ (which 100% stands the test of time as a classic pop banger and I will fight anyone who disagrees).
If you’re like me and thought this was the extent of Paris during this time OH HOW WRONG WE WERE. She played us like fools.
The first third of this book details her time in troubled teen camps. I won’t give much away as you absolutely need to read this book. But teenagers were dying at these things. Paris – and everyone else – at these for-profit teen camps were strangled, slapped, starved, watched in the shower – and verbally, emotionally and physically abused. She would go to great lengths to escape but then get caught and dragged back in.
Paris at one of her 21st birthday dresses – the infamous silver chain mail dress
The next third details her life at the peak of her fame and explains how her baby voice and the ‘Paris persona’ was both a protective mechanism after years of trauma, and a brand for her to sell – and sell it did #sliving. This section itched the scratch that I wanted from this book: stories about The Simple Life, parties (six 21st birthday parties in six countries – standard), being robbed multiple times in the Bling Ring, and her leaked sex tape.
The last section of the book is about more or less the Paris of today: an absolute weapon of a businesswoman. She was charging $1 million for a DJ set, doing residencies in Ibiza and at one point was the highest-paid female DJ in the world. She is a real estate developer in her own right, a children’s right activist (especially vocal about the troubled teen industry), she’s launched massively successful NFTs, still a model/actress/singer and is incredibly vulnerable about the troubles she’s had in conceiving her babies.
Paris and Nicole in 'The Simple Life'
Paris reflects on her life in such a calm and considered manner, clearly having gone through a lot of therapy. She has created an empire out of her brand, but rather than her image controlling her; she’s in total control of everything. Paris took the good, the bad, and the ugly and used it to her advantage. The ultimate saleswoman selling the ultimate product: Paris Hilton.
I picked up this book thinking it would pretty much be a nostalgia trip back to Perez Hilton circa 2005. Which don’t get me wrong, it is, but it was so much more. I was obsessed with this book to the point of walking through an airport while reading it, or going to read a few pages before bed and turning the light out two hours later. I have told every one of my friends to read it. And now I’m telling you too.
#lovesit
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