Paris Hilton Opens Up About Abuse She Suffered As A Teen In Boarding School: Their Goal Was To Break Us Down

Paris Hilton Opens Up About Abuse She Suffered As A Teen In Boarding School: Their Goal Was To Break Us Down

While Paris Hilton is opening up for the first time about the abuse she experienced as a teenager.

Paris Hilton is set to detail what she suffered during her days at Provo Canyon School, a boarding school in Utah, in her upcoming documentary This Is Paris. 

She told PEOPLE she experienced physical, mental, and emotional abuse while there.

“I buried my truth for so long. But I’m proud of the strong woman I’ve become. People might assume everything in my life came easy to me, but I want to show the world who I truly am.”

She added that her high-profile and fast life as a teenager in New York City caused her parents to send her to the school.

“It was so easy to sneak out and go to clubs and parties. My parents were so strict that it made me want to rebel. They’d [punish me] by taking away my cell phone, taking away my credit card, but it didn’t work. I would still go out on my own.”

Once there, she said could tell right away that

“it was going to be worse than anywhere else.”

Paris Hilton added:

“It was supposed to be a school, but [classes] were not the focus at all. From the moment I woke up until I went to bed, it was all day screaming in my face, yelling at me, continuous torture.”

She continued:

“The staff would say terrible things. They were constantly making me feel bad about myself and bully me. I think it was their goal to break us down. And they were physically abusive, hitting and strangling us. They wanted to instill fear in the kids so we’d be too scared to disobey them.”

Three of her previous classmates share their stories in her documentary, which will premiere on her YouTube channel on Sept. 14. They’ll share similar claims, including being force-fed medication and being held down with restraints when being punished.

“I was having panic attacks and crying every single day. I was just so miserable. I felt like a prisoner and I hated life.”

She had difficulty telling her family about what was happening.

“I didn’t really get to speak to my family, maybe once every two or three months. We were cut off from the outside world. And when I tried to tell them once, I got in so much trouble I was scared to say it again. They would grab the phone or rip up letters I wrote telling me, ‘No one is going to believe you.’ And the staff would tell the parents that the kids were lying. So my parents had no idea what was going on.”

Paris Hilton

She ended up staying there for 11 months and left when she was 18-years old, but still couldn’t talk about it.

“I was so grateful to be out of there, I didn’t even want to bring it up again. It was just something I was ashamed of and I didn’t want to speak of it.”

Now, she’s speaking up publicly for the first time.

“It feels like my nightmare is over. And I’m going to watch the movie with my parents — I think it will be good for us, but emotional too. There are no more secrets.”

She said her mission is to make sure similar schools don’t have the same pattern.

“I want these places shut down. I want them to be held accountable. And I want to be a voice for children and now adults everywhere who have had similar experiences. I want it to stop for good and I will do whatever I can to make it happen.”

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