Paris Whitney Hilton is an American media personality, businesswoman, and socialite. Born in New York City, and raised there and in Los Angeles, she is a great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton, the founder of Hilton Hotels. She first attracted tabloid attention in the late 1990s for her presence in NYC's social scene, ventured into fashion modeling in 2000, and was proclaimed "New York's leading It Girl" in 2001. The reality television series The Simple Life (2003–2007), in which she co-starred with her friend Nicole Richie, and a leaked 2003 sex tape with her then-boyfriend Rick Salomon, later released as 1 Night in Paris (2004), catapulted her to global fame.
Hilton's media ventures have included films, television series, advertisement campaigns, books, an album, standalone singles, podcasts, and video games. She achieved two New York Times Best Sellers with Confessions of an Heiress (2004) and Paris: The Memoir (2023), and a global top-10 hit with "Stars Are Blind" (2006); pursued film acting in House of Wax (2005) and Repo! the Genetic Opera (2008); ventured back into reality television with Paris Hilton's My New BFF (2008–2009), The World According to Paris (2011), Cooking with Paris (2021), and Paris in Love (2021–present); and was the subject of the documentary This Is Paris (2020). She has performed as a disc jockey since 2012.
A polarizing and ubiquitous public figure, Hilton is said to have influenced the revival of the "famous for being famous" phenomenon throughout the 2000s. Critics indeed suggest that she exemplifies the celebutante —a household name through inherited wealth and lavish lifestyle. Forbes included her in its Celebrity 100 in 2004, 2005, and 2006, and ranked her as the most "overexposed" celebrity in 2006 and 2008. Hilton has parlayed her media fame into numerous business endeavors. Under her company, she has produced content for broadcast media, launched a variety of product lines, and opened a chain of self-branded boutiques worldwide, as well as an urban beach club in the Philippines. Her perfume line alone has brought in over US$2.5 billion in revenue, as of 2020.
