Paris Hilton opens up about sexual abuse experience at Utah boarding school
Warning: This story contains references to sexual abuse.
Paris Hilton has gathered her courage to share a difficult experience she had as a teenager while staying at the Provo Canyon School in Utah.
On Oct. 11, Hilton took to social media to share the interview she had with the New York Times, wherein she detailed the alleged sexual abuse she went through when her parents sent her to the therapeutic boarding school in the 1990s.
The TV personality and socialite shared that she and a few other girls were taken by staff members very late at night, about three or four in the morning, to a room where they would perform "medical exams" on them. However, she alleged that there was no doctor present.
"It was a couple of different staff members who would have us lay on the table and put their fingers inside of us," Hilton said.
In a quivering voice, she went on, "I don’t know what they were doing, but it was definitely not a doctor. And it was really scary, and it’s something that I really had blocked out for many years. But it’s coming back all the time now, and I think about it. And now, looking back as an adult, that was definitely sexual abuse."
On Twitter, Hilton bared more details about her experience.
I opened up in a @NYTimes video about something I’ve never discussed before. At Provo Canyon School, I was woken up in the middle of the night by male staff who ushered me into a private room and performed cervical exams on me in the middle of the night. https://t.co/mWxF8Pvmaw
— ParisHilton (@ParisHilton) October 11, 2022
According to her, she didn't know what was happening at the time because she was sleep-deprived and heavily medicated.
"I was forced to lie on a padded table, spread my legs, and submit to cervical exams. I cried while they held me down and said, 'No'! They just said, 'Shut up. Be quiet. Stop struggling or you’ll go to Obs,'" Hilton wrote.
What she experienced didn't just happen one time as she stressed that it was a recurring experience not just for her, but for other survivors as well.
"I was violated and I am crying as I type this because no one, especially a child, should be sexually abused. My childhood was stolen from me and it kills me this is still happening to other innocent children," Hilton wrote.
She emphasized, "It's important to open up about these painful moments so I can heal and help put an end to this abuse."
Hilton's post comes as the Provo Canyon School, one of Utah’s largest youth residential treatment centers, is in hot water after several of its former patients brought to light its alleged history of sexually abusing its students.
According to The Salt Lake Tribune, the abuses stretch from 1980s up until today. In describing what they went through, former students said that up to ten staff members were piling on young children, who were restrained or chemically sedated. Some also reported that they were isolated in their rooms for days over the littlest of things they did to irk the staff.
In a statement sent to E! News, the Provo Canyon School said, "What we can say is that the school provides a structured environment teaching life-skills, providing behavioral health therapy, and continuing education for youth who come to us with pre-existing and complex emotional, behavioral and psychiatric needs."
"While we acknowledge there are individuals over the many years who believe they were not helped by the program, we are heartened by the many stories former residents share about how their stay was a pivot point in improving—and in many cases, saving—their lives," it added.
Hilton first revealed her sexual abuse experience at the boarding school back in 2021 when she supported a bill that would end abuse in the state's care facilities.