Paris Hilton broke down in tears this week when she testified to a group of Utah politicians about chronic abuse at a boarding school there.
“My name is Paris Hilton. I am a survivor of institutional abuse, ”the 39-year-old Socialist said at a state Senate committee hearing at the Utah Capitol on Monday.
Hilton, 39, was shown wiping away tears as he testified about his alleged abuse at age 17 at Provo Canyon School in Beehive state, which he called “hell on earth.”
“I was abused verbally, mentally and physically daily,” Hilton said of her time when “it was no longer Paris,” but just a number.
“They separated me from the outside world and took away all my human rights,” he said, accusing the staff of being “evil and sadistic”.
“I cried in bed every night praying that I would wake up from this nightmare,” he told the audience.
Hilton, who previously discussed the abuse in a documentary, “This is Paris,” said his 11 months at the so-called center of compassionate behavior caused ongoing trauma.
“For the past twenty years, I have had a recurring nightmare where I am kidnapped at midnight by two strangers, searched and locked in a facility,” he stated.
“I wish I could tell you that this disturbing nightmare was just a dream, but it’s not,” he said, saying he feared “they’ll never leave.”
She said she was “forced to consume medications that made me feel sleepy and exhausted” and “did not breathe fresh air or see sunlight for 11 months.”
“There was zero intimacy: every time I used the bathroom or showered — I controlled myself,” she stated.
“At the age of 16, as a child, I could feel his penetrating eyes looking at my naked body. I was just a kid and I felt raped every day, “she said, calling it” unconstitutional, degrading and terrifying. “
He claimed that a long-time employee, who worked until the documentary aired, would boast of recent students that “she was the one who broke Paris Hilton.”
Hilton told the audience that “talking about something so personal was and still is terrifying,” but he wanted to make changes to prevent others from being mistreated in the same way.
Hilton’s testimony was to support a bill to demand greater government oversight of residential treatment centers for youth and to require them to document when they use restrictions.
The move was passed unanimously after emotional testimony from Hilton and several other survivors.
Hilton called on President Biden and congressional leaders to take action and said he intends to follow federal law.
“This is just the first step,” Hilton told reporters. “This bill will definitely help a lot of kids, but obviously there’s more work to be done and I won’t stop until the change happens.”
In a statement on its website, Provo Canyon School says previous owners sold the school in 2000.
Associate administrator Tim Marshall told KUTV that the school supported the bill and that it had “eliminated the use of insulation or insulation a long time ago.” He also insisted that staff “do not use medications to sedate, immobilize a patient or restrict him in his ability to continue to be actively engaged in his care.”
With publishing cables