In her new autobiography, Paris: The Memoir, Paris Hilton opens up about topics ranging from how her "that's hot" catchphrase came to be to the abuse she claims she suffered while away at boarding school. The star also writes about an 8th grade teacher who confessed a "crush" on her, spoke inappropriately to her over the phone, and even kissed her once. Hilton says in her book that it took her many years to see this teacher as her abuser because she didn't want to think of herself as a "victim." Read on to find out more about her disturbing experience and how she's worked through it over the years.
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The teacher asked her to keep their contact a secret.
Tinseltown / ShutterstockIn Paris: The Memoir, Hilton writes that several girls in at her Catholic school had a crush on the teacher, who she calls "Mr. Abercrombie" due to his looks. "Everyone loved him, including the nuns," she explains (via People).
But, while it was innocent enough for those students to have a crush on their teacher, as an adult, he crossed the line with Hilton. "I've got a crush on you," the teacher apparently told her. "Mr. Abercrombie" asked her if they could exchange numbers but also told her to keep their contact a secret. Hilton explains, "He flattered and teased me and said that all the other girls were talking about me behind my back because they were jealous."
She writes (via Page Six), "Mr. Abercrombie called me almost every night, and we talked for hours about how amazingly mature, beautiful, and intelligent I was, how sensual, misunderstood, and special."
He showed up at her house.
HarperCollins PublishersAfter they had been secretly talking, the teacher came to Hilton's house when her parents, Kathy and Rick Hilton, were out.
"I saw a late-model SUV idling at the top of the driveway," the "Stars Are Blind" singer writes in her book. "I climbed into the passenger seat. Teacher pulled me into his arms and kissed me." She says that they kissed "for what seemed like a long time and seemed to be evolving into something more."
But, Hilton's parents arrived back home and spotted. "Mr. Abercrombie" put the blame on Hilton, saying to her, "My life is over. What am I doing? Why did you make me do this?"
Hilton says that her parents sent her to live with her grandmother for the summer but that she doesn't know "if there were any repercussions to the teacher or if there was any attempt to prevent him from choosing another little girl." She says that her parents "never volunteered any information, and [she] never asked."
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It took her years to understand the truth of the situation.
Kathy Hutchins / ShutterstockFor years, Hilton did not want to look at the experience or the actions of her former teacher too closely.
"I never allowed myself to talk or even think about what it really was or why I climbed out the window to kiss that stupid pedophile," she writes. "It took decades for me to actually speak the word pedophile. Casting him in the role of child molester meant casting myself in the role of victim, and I just couldn't go there."
She also had trouble reconciling "the fact that [she] had enjoyed something that was, in reality, utterly vile." Hilton continues, "Even now, knowing in my grown-up mind that no child is ever to blame for inappropriate adult behavior, my face is literally burning as I sit here telling you this terrible secret. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to fully shake it off. But it's a key part of my story."
Hilton wanted to share her own, real story.
Featureflash Photo Agency / ShutterstockHilton has been famous since the early 2000s, not only because of her status as an heiress and a socialite, but also because of the reality TV show The Simple Life. She was the butt of many jokes in the media and perceived as a "dumb blonde," a persona that Hilton now claims she played up to cover up her trauma. Recently, the 42-year-old has opened up more about her real life and the abuses she's experienced, including in the documentary This Is Paris and now her first memoir.
"I felt that my documentary, This Is Paris, was the first time that I had really been vulnerable and opened up and showed who I truly was," she told Paradein a recent interview. "I felt there was so much more to the story. I think it’s an important story, especially for young girls to read. I wish I had had this type of book back when I was a teenager. I’m so incredibly proud of this memoir. I really put my heart and soul into it."