Paris Hilton is an American heiress, socialite, model, actress, and entrepreneur who has a net worth of $300 million. Paris Hilton is the great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton, the founder of the Hilton Hotel chain, but she has earned her own fortune through a highly lucrative endorsement and product empire that is particularly popular overseas. Her licensing empire today includes retail stores around the world that sell Paris-branded clothing, handbags, perfumes, and more. To date, she has endorsed 17 fragrances that have generated over $2 billion in gross revenue. In fact, the majority of Paris’ net worth is attributable to her fragrance royalties. She likely gets a 20-30% cut of all profits generated by the line.
Paris Hilton’s grandfather Barron was reportedly so ashamed of his granddaughters’ antics that in 2007, he adjusted the terms of his will to leave 97% of his $4.5 billion fortune to charity instead of his family. So, instead of roughly two dozen people inheriting $4.5 billion, $190 million per person, those same people split 3% of $4.5 billion. That’s a total of $135 million, around $5.6 million per person.
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Paris Hilton was born Paris Whitney Hilton on February 17, 1981, in New York City, She is the daughter of Kathy Hilton, a former actress and socialite, and businessman Richard Hilton. She is the oldest of four children, including well-known socialite Nicky Hilton. Her great-grandfather (on her father’s side) was Conrad Hilton, who founded Hilton Hotels. The family moved around frequently, splitting time between a suite in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan, the Hamptons, and Beverly Hills. Growing up, Paris ran in a social circle with peers like Ivanka Trump, Nicole Richie, and Kim Kardashian. The family was close friends with Michael Jackson and often were invited to his shows. She attended the Professional Children’s School at age 15 and spent one year after that at the Provo Canyon School for emotionally troubled youth. She later earned a GED.
Paris began working as a model while in elementary school and was subsequently signed to T Management. She has modeled for various advertising campaigns, including work for top agencies such as Ford Models and brands like Guess, Christian Dior, and Marciano, among others. By 2001, she was still modeling and courting media attention for her wild lifestyle and high-profile flings with actors like Leonardo DiCaprio. She was nicknamed New York’s Leading IT Girl in 2001. Paris has continued to model throughout her adult life; in January 2018, she modeled for Kanye West’s Yeezy 6 Collection, and in February 2019, she modeled for Phillip Plein’s Plein Sport campaign.
In November 2003, an unauthorized sex tape featuring Paris and her then-boyfriend Rick Salomon surfaced on the internet. Salomon then marketed the video and distributed it himself under the title “1 Night in Paris” in April 2004, earning millions as Paris filed a lawsuit. The case was settled out of court, and reports stated that Hilton received $400,000 from the video.
Three weeks after the release of the scandalous video, Hilton’s first reality television show premiered. She had partnered with childhood friend Nicole Richie on “The Simple Life,” a reality show featuring two socialites who attempt to make it in the “real world,” working blue-collar jobs and performing menial tasks such as milking cows. There was fear that the sex tape scandal would mean the end of the show before it even began and would alienate audiences, but the show went on to become a huge success. Due to the fame over both the sex tape and her new reality show, new doors began to open: Paris was approached by Guess to appear in three international campaigns, and she made a guest appearance on “Saturday Night Live,” where Jimmy Fallon interviewed her about the Salomon tape scandal in a good-natured way. “The Simple Life” went on for five seasons to strong ratings and was praised for its humor and self-awareness. The fame of the show made Hilton a leading figure in the early popularity of reality TV. Hilton has dabbled in guest appearances on various programs and small movie roles over the years, including “The World According to Paris,” “Hollywood Love Story,” “This Is Paris,” and more recently “Cooking with Paris” and “Paris in Love.”
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In 2004, Hilton wrote “Confessions of an Heiress: A Tongue-in-Cheek Peek Behind the Pose” in conjunction with author Merle Ginsberg. The book was panned by critics but still made its way to the “New York Times” best-seller list. At the same time, she was also starting her own perfume line and a nightclub franchise. Towards the end of 2005, Hilton began to work on designing her own jewelry line and also released another book, “Your Heiress Diary: Confess It All To Me.” In 2006, she launched her own record label and released her first self-titled album. She entered the world of DJing in the early 2010s, and, according to “Time” magazine, Paris had established herself as the highest-paid female DJ in 2014.
Hilton released a tracksuit line, collaborated with Quay Australia on a sunglasses collection, and joined the cast of the YouTube animated web series “Rainbow High” in 2022. She released “Paris: The Memoir” in 2023 and runs the “I am Paris” podcast on iHeartRadio.
Much of the media attention around Hilton has centered on her party girl heiress image and stereotypes of “dumb blond,” “valley girl,” and artificiality. She would often utter one-liners that became notorious in pop culture, such as “That’s hot,” her signature line. It’s an image that is said to be a carefully crafted act or a “brand,” and that became a problem in her career when she needed to be respected as a businessperson. The period between 2003 and 2009 is said to have been her “heyday.” “The Huffington Post” declared 2007 as the beginning of the end of her tabloid reign. In the era of social media, Hilton has established herself on platforms like Twitter and Instagram, with millions of followers.
Hilton was arrested and placed on probation for driving under the influence of alcohol in September 2006. She was back in court a few months later when she violated her probation by driving on a suspended license. She was sentenced to 45 days in jail, but it was later reduced to 23 days. She reported to jail on the night of June 3, 2007, arriving directly from an appearance at the MTV Movie Awards. She was released early after only three days served due to unspecified health reasons (many sources reported she was suffering extreme anxiety and panic attacks) but eventually was summoned back to court and made to serve out the rest of her time in jail.
Paris has been paired and spotted with many famous actors and musicians throughout her time as a socialite. Hilton was engaged to model Jason Shaw from 2002 to 2003. She was also engaged to Greek shipping heir Paris Latsis but called off their engagement after just four months. In January 2018, she became engaged to actor Chris Zylka (who proposed with a ring worth $2 million), but the engagement ended in November 2018.
In December 2019, Paris started dating venture capitalist Carter Reum. They got engaged in February 2021 and married in November of that year. In January 2023, they announced the birth of their son, who was born through surrogacy. They welcomed a daughter via surrogacy in November 2023.
In 2007, Paris paid $5.9 million for a home in a guarded gated community in the LA suburb of Sherman Oaks. This is the home that was burglarized by the so-called “Bling Ring.” She previously owned a $6.2 million home in Beverly Hills and a home in the Hollywood Hills.
In 2014, Paris bought a penthouse in downtown Manhattan for $4.9 million.
In August 2021, Paris and Carter Reum paid $8.4 million for an oceanfront property in Malibu. In February 2023, it was reported that Hilton and Reum moved into a Beverly Park mansion that was last listed as a $160,000-per-month rental.
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