Paris Hilton has said that speaking about the abuse she allegedly experienced at a residential behavioural school was like a “weight lifted off my shoulders”.
Last month, the heiress, DJ and businesswoman claimed to People magazine that she saw some staff “hitting and strangling” students during the 11 months she spent there in the Nineties.
Speaking ahead of the release of her new documentary, This is Paris, Hilton alleged that some of the staff at the controversial Provo Canyon boarding school “got off” on “torturing children and seeing them naked”.
She claims that she was physically and mentally abused, beaten and forced to spend time in solitary confinement, as were others.
Three of Hilton’s classmates who appear in the YouTube documentary share similar stories of being force-fed medication and being held down by restraints.
“I definitely feel like a weight is lifted off my shoulders,” Hilton has now told Sky News.
“At first I was very nervous and when I was even in the editing room [for the documentary], I was like, we need to cut this out, I don't want anyone hearing about this.”
She said she has received an “outpouring of emails” from people who had similar experiences at the school.
“People saying thank you so much for being so brave. I haven't ever told anyone this either because I was just so traumatised and didn't want to talk about it,” she said.
“Just the fact that it's helping make change makes it all worth it to me that I said my story and that I even went through this.”
In a statement, the Provo Canyon school said it cannot comment on the claims made by Hilton and her peers.
“Originally opened in 1971, Provo Canyon School was sold by its previous ownership in August 2000,” the statement read.
“We therefore cannot comment on the operations or patient experience prior to this time.”
This is Paris, a YouTube Originals documentary, is out now.
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