Paris Hilton Breaks Silence On Her Leaked Sex Tape: 'It Was Like Being Raped'
Fourteen years after it happened, Paris Hilton is finally opening up about the leaked sex tape that derailed her career and sunk her spirits.
Hilton, now 37, has made headlines since her reality show with childhood pal Nicole Richie, The Simple Life. In 2004, her sex tape with former boyfriend Rick Salomon leaked to the public.
Hilton On Her Sex Tape
The traumatic experience was something that Hilton seldom addresses, even as she continues to live her life in the spotlight. In the recently premiered documentary The American Meme, the hotel heiress talks about how truly devastating the infamous sex tape was to her.
"It was like being raped," Hilton describes in the documentary, according to USA Today.
"It felt like I'd lost part of my soul and been talked about in such cruel and mean ways," she recalls. "I literally wanted to die at some points. I was like, 'I just don't want to live,' because I thought everything was taken away from me. I didn't want to be known as that."
Red Sparrow actress Jennifer Lawrence, who also had her nude photos leaked to the public, also described her experience in a similar way as she told The Hollywood Reporter that she felt like she was "gangbanged by the f**king planet."
While other reality socialites eventually replaced Hilton's spot in the limelight, she continues to be an influencer in the industry with her fashion lines and global DJ career.
Hilton Opens Up In 'American Meme'
The documentary The American Meme shows the heiress as more vulnerable than ever.
In the Q & A at the Tribeca Film Festival, Hilton explains that the character she created in The Simple Life was the "spoiled airhead" she thought the viewers wanted to see. In the new documentary, she allows herself to be who she really is.
"When Bert told me about this film, he basically said, 'Paris, you're the O.G. of all this,'" Hilton says. "I really trusted him and was very vulnerable about things I had never spoken about before, and basically just wanted to show the real me, because I don't think I ever have before."
From her post-The Simple Life success to insecurities as a perpetual 21-year-old, Hilton lets The American Meme paint a more grounded picture of herself.
Other personalities featured in The American Meme are Josh "The Fat Jew" Ostrovsky, Hailey Baldwin, DJ Khaled, Dane Cook, Emily Ratajkowski, and Brittany Furlan.
The American Meme premiered on Friday at the Tribeca Film Festival.
