″Undine” Paris Hilton was born in 1981 to an actor/socialite mother and a Hilton empire heir father. When they open their mouths money and cliché drop out. They are spectacularly conventional,spectacularly self-absorbed and hard to like,although I tried because Paris is forgiving. This book speaks to a generosity of spirit in their unconventional daughter. Her love for her family is genuine.
Genuine is a troubling word to use about Paris Hilton,whose life has been a performance. We’re all performative sometimes,but Paris Hilton hasn’t been able to stop her performances to glimpse any consistent,stable element beneath the surface. Star,her father labelled his lively eldest daughter from the outset,valuing the in-transition aspect of her but unable/uninterested to see further.
Paris wasn’t taught about the possibility of a moral universe (the Trumps were family friends),and making money was regarded as the peak aspiration. And looking pretty. Any education,emotional or intellectual,was left to hired help.
Her mother’s advice on the world? “Don’t do it till you’re married. The guy will be obsessed with you if you don’t do it.”
Paris had extreme,undiagnosed ADHD. She is insomniac and always “on”. Partying at 12,drugged,raped,the victim of a paedophile school teacher at her exclusive school;at 15 she was done with schooling. But she was uncontainable. So her parents had her kidnapped at three in the morning and taken to some isolated institution where she was imprisoned and psychologically abused for two years. Not educated but made to do hard labour.
Other children died,Paris kept escaping,kept calling her family but no one would listen. Her parents stayed away,relieved of the responsibility for the unconventional daughter. Two weeks before her 18th birthday her parents collected her.