"Dress cute wherever you go, life is too short to blend in."
Paris Hilton is... well, that's the thing. How did she become famous? Hell, what is it precisely that she's famous for in the first place? Seeing as how she served as the model for the modern ideal of the "celebutante", those are questions that beg to be answered.
Paris was born on February 17, 1981 into the multi-billionaire Hilton family, owners of the hotel chain bearing their name. She was, by all accounts, fairly troublesome in her youth, spending a year at a residential school for "troubled teens" in Utah and getting kicked out of a Connecticut boarding school before dropping out of high school altogether and getting a GED. Afterwards, she became a usual model/socialite/"it girl", serving as a regular fixture of nightclubs and tabloids in New York. In 2003, Fox approached her to star on a reality show called The Simple Life, in which she and another big-city socialite (they eventually decided on Nicole Richie, adopted daughter of Lionel Richie) would be sent to live on a farm in Arkansas where hijinks would presumably ensue. The two accepted.
And then came the tape. You know which one.
The scandal that erupted from Paris' sex tape (known as 1 Night in Paris) turned her into an overnight celebrity and The Simple Life into a smash hit for Fox. She leveraged that fame to appear in a whole slew of films and TV shows, many of which either went Direct to Video or were small cameos (apart from the House of Wax remake, Repo! The Genetic Opera and The Hottie and The Nottie), as well as record an album, create several reality shows, and write a bestselling, tongue-in-cheek autobiography. When she's not working, she's frequently running afoul of the law, most often for reckless driving (often while inebriated) and for carrying and using drugs. Her list of arrests and fines is too long to list here, so go check The Other Wiki if you care about that.
Between her behavior and the auspicious beginnings of her career as a celebrity, Paris has a substantial Hatedom, with her frequently topping lists of the most disliked celebrities in America. Most people wonder just how it is possible for a person to become a media fixture as big as Paris merely by appearing on a single reality show and making a single sex tape, and the fact that Paris was seemingly only the first of many such celebutantes to take this route to fame makes them fear for the future of popular culture. Of course, the phenomenon of being "famous for being famous" is a bit older than people realize — the term "celebutante" was coined as far back as 1939, and many of the "Warhol Superstars" of The Seventies fit the bill as well as any Kardashian. Plus, at the very least she seems to be fully aware of how she got famous. But then again, none of the celebutantes of days past ever reached anything close to the level of media saturation as Paris Hilton and her compatriots. Does her success say something about the state of our society? If so, what?
Needless to say, Paris Hilton is a very controversial figure. The Rule of Cautious Editing Judgment is in full effect on this page.
As far as what she has actual done and ventured into, includes everything from perfumery, music, acting, authoring, to Reality TV.
Releases[]
Music
- Paris Hilton (2006)
- TBA (2012)
Movies
- The Cat in the Hat (2003)
- House Of Wax (2005)
- Bottoms Up (2006)
- Pledge This (2006)
- The Hottie and The Nottie (2008)
- Repo: The Genetic Opera (2008)
Perfumes
- Paris Hilton (2004)
- Just Me (2005)
- Heiress (2006)
- Can Can (2007)
- Fairy Dust (2008)
- Siren (2008)
- Dazzle (2012)
Books
- Confessions of A Heiress (2004)
Tv Shows
- The Simple Life (2003-2007)
- Paris Hilton's My New BFF (2008-2009)
- Paris Hilton's British Best Friend (2009)
- Paris Hilton’s Dubai BFF (2009)
- The World According to Paris (2011)
Tropes:[]
- Adam Westing: In her Supernatural appearance she played an ancient goddess whose personality is that of a spoiled celebrity, playing off her public image as an actress.
- Her character in Repo! The Genetic Opera was also a famous socialite and heiress who is literally addicted to plastic surgery.
- Break Up Song: Jealousy is one between friends.
- Bottle Fairy
- City Mouse: On The Simple Life.
- Cover Version: "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy"
- Development Hell: Her second album has been delayed since her first one...almost a notable 6 years.
- Home Porn Movie
- Hood Ornament Hottie: Her car-washing ad for the Carl's Jr./Hardee's fast food chain.
- Intercourse with You: the basic theme of "Paris Hilton" the album.
- Mister Muffykins: Her little Chihuahua Tinkerbell is almost as famous as she is.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: The number of people who claim otherwise shows how good she is at it.
- British TV presenter Fearne Cotton interviewed her for a new series. One question essentially boiled down to "when are you going to get a clue?" Paris pointed out that, by living up to her public image and generally acting like a stupid, spoiled party animal, she would earn vast amounts of money that she could never have by (for example) working at the family firm.
- Obsession Song: "I Want You" "Nothing In This World" "Screwed"
- Pretty in Mink
- Reality TV: Most of her work has been in this field.
- Rebellious Princess
- Rich Bitch, Spoiled Brat: How many people view her. How much of this is Truth in Television and how much is her deliberately playing up those tendencies is another matter.
- Self-Titled Album: Debut
- She Really Can Act: Critics have praised her performances in Repo! The Genetic Opera and as a villain in an episode of Supernatural.
- Socialite
- Silly Love Songs: "Heartbeat"
- Spoiled Sweet: Her fans see her as this and think she's rather nice.