Paris Hilton is an heiress, a reality TV personality, a singer, and actor, and a mother of two.
She is also an advocate for children, having previously shared harrowing tales of her own abuse as a teen in our nation’s infamous “troubled teen industry.”
Paris has been at the forefront of a push for the federal Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act.
The United States as a whole does very little to protect its children from harm. But with the Senate having passed the bill, Paris hopes that the House will follow through.
Celebrity hotel heiress Paris Hilton poses for photographs outside the U.S. Capitol on the day the House of Representatives is set to vote on The Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act on December 17, 2024. (Photo Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
“For most of my life, I carried a deep, unspoken pain,” Paris began her letter. “I thought if I stayed quiet, if I buried it far enough, maybe I could convince myself it didn’t happen.”
“But silence doesn’t heal — it only protects the people that caused the harm,” Paris sagely observed. “Speaking up has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but it’s also been the most powerful.”
She shared: “As a teenager, I was sent to youth residential treatment facilities where I endured abuse that no child should ever experience. I was physically restrained, sexually abused, isolated, overmedicated, and stripped of my dignity.”
Paris continued: “I was told I didn’t matter, that I was the problem, and no one would believe me if I spoke up — not even my family. For years, I lived with the weight of that trauma, the nightmares, the shame. It wasn’t until I found my voice that I began to heal.”
TV personality and child welfare advocate Paris Hilton arrives to testify at the House Committee on Ways and Means hearing on “Strengthening Child Welfare and Protecting Americas Children” on June 26, 2024. (Photo Credit: Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
Paris Hilton urges Congress to act, and to act now
“Silence doesn’t heal,” Paris Hilton emphasized in her Instagram caption. “It protects the people that caused the harm.”
She addressed: “To every member of the House,” think of the children who can’t speak for themselves.”
Paris emphasized: “They’re counting on you. Let’s turn pain into purpose and protect the most vulnerable among us.”
Celebrity hotel heiress Paris Hilton talks with fans and supporters outside the U.S. Capitol on the day the House of Representatives is set to vote on The Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act on December 17, 2024. (Photo Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Only in recent years has Paris Hilton opened up about the horrors of the a11 months that she spent as a captive of the Provo Canyon School.
She was only 17. Because she had been partying as a teen, her parents sent her to the institution. Like the rest of the infamous troubled teen industry, the facility turned teenage suffering into profit.
People contacted the Utah-based house of horrors. The representative declined to comment — citing that the facility had changed ownership in August 2000.
Paris Hilton speaks onstage at Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie: How it All Began during New York Magazine’s Vulture Festival at NYA EAST on November 17, 2024. (Photo Credit: Jerod Harris/Getty Images for Vulture)
This is about all survivors — not just celebrities
“I always believed in turning pain into purpose, in creating something good from something dark,” Paris expressed. “Survivors like me have carried this fight for far too long.”
She urged: “Now, I ask you to carry it across the finish line. Let’s make this a moment that our country can be proud of — a moment when we choose to protect the most vulnerable among us.”
Paris has been making regular trips to DC in order to push through this vital legislation. It’s a shame that it takes celebrity voices to advocate for basic decency. But, too often, it’s what our broken system needs to do the right thing.
