Paris Hilton was on Capitol Hill Thursday to lobby members of Congress to support a bill designed to prevent sexual and physical abuse in schools, as she passed.
The 42-year-old revealed in August 2020 that she had been abused at a “troubled teen” facility in Utah, where she was sent for 11 months at the age of 17.
Since then, the heiress and reality TV star has worked to improve scrutiny in schools and prevent others from suffering like her.
“I am doing everything in my power to fight for these kids, because these are kids who come from families that can’t help and support them, and kids from the juvenile justice system, foster care system. And they don’t have a voice,” she told Fox News Thursday morning.
“So I’m basically just making my pain a goal and using my platform to make a difference and save children’s lives, because hundreds of children have died in the name of treatment in these places.”
Paris Hilton appeared on Fox News Thursday morning to explain why she promoted the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act in Congress
Hilton, 42, is pictured at the Capitol on Thursday
The heiress and entrepreneur explained during a press conference why the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act was so important
Hilton is calling for the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act, introduced Thursday by a bipartisan group of senators and representatives.
Democrat Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Representative Ro Khanna of California supported the bill, along with Republican Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, plus Representative Buddy Carter of Georgia.
The bill aims to create federal data collection and reporting standards for the “troubled teen” industry and provide states with best practices to prevent abuse.
Speaking on the steps of the Capitol, Hilton described being subjected to horrific treatment at the school.
“I witnessed and experienced sexual abuse by adult employees and endured verbal and emotional abuse on a daily basis. I was yelled at, dehumanized, silenced and stripped of any semblance of privacy,” she said.
“When I tried to tell my parents about the abuse on the phone, the staff stopped, immediately hung up and chastised me.
‘Besides, you had no access to the outside doors, no sunlight, no fresh air. These were considered privileges.
“What I went through will haunt me for the rest of my life.”
Hilton was pictured at the Capitol on Thursday
The heiress said she was determined to use her high profile to give a voice to those who are suffering
Hilton was praised by Ro Khanna, a representative for California, who said he admired her dedication to the cause
Hilton described being medically sedated against her will and forcibly restrained. She also said male staff members would watch her shower.
She previously described how she was sent there from New York as a teen teardrop, and subjected to emotional and physical abuse.
“From the moment I woke up until I went to bed, it was screaming in my face, screaming at me, constant torture all day,” she said in 2020.
In a USA Today op-ed published in 2020, she wrote that when she arrived at Provo Canyon School, she was forced to take her clothes off, crouch and cough, and take part in a gynecological exam while male staff members watched .
She said she was told this was routine to check for contraband.
Hilton wrote that those invasive exams continued during her stay, with staffers waking her up in the middle of the night and taking her to an “examination room.”
“Sleep deprivation and heavy meds, I didn’t understand what was happening,” she wrote.
“I was forced to lie down on a padded table, spread my legs and submit to gynecological examinations. I remember crying as they held me down.”
Hilton was sent to Provo Canyon school in Utah at the age of 17 and remained there for 11 months
Hilton wrote that she asked why this was happening, and was told to keep quiet or she would be sent to solitary confinement.
She said she now realizes it was sexual assault.
The school changed hands in 2000, and Universal Health Services, which now owns Provo Canyon School, has repeatedly declined to comment on what Hilton said happened to her because it did not own the facility during the time she said she had been abused.
Hilton was last on the mound in 2021, pushing for a similar measure, the Accountability for Congregate Care Act.
Khanna and Merkley were also sponsors of that bill.
Khanna said he admired her commitment to change, unlike other celebrities who “fly in, give a press conference, introduce a bill and then leave.”
Khanna added: “They came in three years ago and I remember talking to Paris’ mother… and they said, ‘We actually want to get legislation passed.’
“And month after month they’ve been working with the organization to meet members of Congress and do the work of actually getting something done.”