Paris Hilton, the American socialite and media figure, has told a congressional panel looking into strengthening child welfare protections that she was “force-fed medications and sexually abused by staff” while she was institutionalized as a teenager.
Hilton, an outspoken advocate for better protections for children in youth facilities, told the House committee on ways and means on Wednesday that she had been “violently restrained and dragged down hallways, stripped naked and thrown into solitary confinement”.
The 43-year-old has previously described how she was subjected to “a parent-approved kidnapping” at four different youth facilities as her parents searched for solutions to her rebellious behavior and “fell for the misleading marketing of the troubled teen industry”.
She has characterized the “tough love” teen course-correction business as a $50bn industry that includes therapeutic boarding schools, military-style boot camps, juvenile justice facilities and behavior-modification programs.
On Wednesday, the reality TV star said she found her institutional experience “isolating and traumatic” and that she had been prevented from alerting her parents to what was happening because phone calls were monitored.
“It’s really difficult to tell anyone in the outside world. A lot of these kids are not believed because these places tell the parents they’re being lied to and manipulated because they want to go home,” Hilton told the panel.
Dr Phil got sued by several people I think for being in cahoots with these places and sending all his “problem cases” there.
Imagine how much it promoted these bogus places - all these rich bitch mothers seeing Dr. Phil send some kid to an institution after a 2 minute video meant to shock the audience and 5 minutes of Dr Phil “helping” the kid by teasing out lurid details and throwing out a few aphorisms…
“We gotta send our son to that place…!”
Lots of damage done over the years.
Years of life lost over this silly daytime TV shit.
Hilton has also called on lawmakers to pass the Stop Institutional Child Abuse act[1], designed to strengthen oversight of residential youth programs; supports the re-authorization of Title IV-B of the social security act[2]; and is an advocate for a “Bill of Rights” for children in youth facilities.
Links mentioned in article:
- [1] Stop Institutional Child Abuse act | https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/2955/text
- [2] Title IV-B of the social security act | https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/ssact/title04/0400.htm
The Provo Canyon school, one of the institutions Hilton attended, previously responded to Hilton’s accusations saying it was under different management and “therefore cannot comment on the operations or student experience prior to that time”.
“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,” the school said.
She’s proof that people can have a redemption arc.
There was nothing wrong with her in the first place to be redeemed.
I found her to be the manifestation of rich party culture and was an icon of the early 2000s zeitgeist. She paved the way for acceptance of Kardashians and the like (alongside others like Jessica Simpson) by glorifying a very unrealistic lifestyle and way of being.
She certainly wasn’t the first domino in the line, but she absolutely affected a condition for those who followed.
If anything, that place fucked her up so badly, she became a weirdo.
Her documentary is free on YouTube, and it’s eye-opening.
Thats hot
