In the 2000s, at the height of her fame, Paris Hilton appeared to have it all – a filthy rich family, celebrity friends, and partying prowess to make most people’s kidneys ache in sympathy. But behind her wild antics was a deep pain borne of her parents sending her to Provo Canyon School, a behavioral facility for troubled teens in Utah, which has been accused of abusive tactics including drugging kids against their will, physical abuse, and sexual assault.
Speaking to a senate committee, Paris Hilton’s testimony, 39, said she’s had a “recurring nightmare” where she is kidnapped in the middle of the night by two strangers, strip-searched and locked in a facility. “[Fellow students were] restrained, thrown into walls and sexually abused regularly,” she says, adding that she didn’t tell her parents because “all communication with my family was being censored”. She says, “I tell my story not so that anyone feels bad for me, but to shine a light on the reality of what happened then and is still happening now.”