Paris Hilton recalled being ‘slapped and ‘strangled’ during her time at the youth care facility as she pushed for a change to the laws governing congregate care facilities.
The 40-year-old spoke passionately at a press conference on Capitol Hill on Wednesday as she continued to campaign for the Accountability for Congregate Care Act to be introduced.
The pop culture icon was joined by other survivors and her mother Kathy, as well as camera crews for her forthcoming reality TV show, and introduced herself not as ‘Paris Hilton, but as a survivor.’
She was also surrounded by Sen. Jeff Merkley and Reps. Ro Khanna, Adam Schiff and Rosa DeLauro, who are introducing the bill to both houses of Congress, which would provide federal oversight to the ‘troubled teen’ industry.
Paris, who first opened up about her experiences in a documentary about her life released last year, once again spoke about the treatment she reportedly endured at Provo Canyon School in Utah.
‘I was strangled, slapped across the face, watched in the shower by male staff, called vulgar names, forced to take medication without a proper diagnosis, not given a proper education, thrown into solitary confinement in a room covered in scratch marks and smeared in blood, and so much more,’ she stated.
‘For 20 years I couldn’t sleep at night, with memories of physical violence, the feeling of loneliness, the loss of peers, rush through my mind,’ she added. ‘This was not just insomnia. It was trauma.’
The reality star turned business mogul insisted that her situation wasn’t unique as she highlighted that many other teens may have faced the same experience across the country.
Paris said the Accountability for Congregate Care Act would set out a national bill of rights for youth in residential facilities, and urged members of Congress and President Joe Biden to pass it into law.
The change would aim to safeguard care on a national level to counter what campaigners insist is a patchwork of inadequate monitoring and regulation across the country.
The Simple Life star claimed in her 2020 YouTube Originals documentary, This Is Paris, that staff members at the school inflicted emotional, physical and psychological abuse on her.
Provo Canyon School changed ownership in 2000 and its new owners have said the cannot comment on ‘operations or patient experience’ prior to this time.
The school issued a statement in September last year in response to Hilton’s allegations that read: ‘We do not condone or promote any form of abuse. Any and all alleged/suspected abuse is reported immediately to our state regulatory authorities, law enforcement and Child Protective Services, as required.
‘We are committed to providing high-quality care to youth with special, and often complex, emotional, behavioural and psychiatric needs.’
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