Paris Hilton has bravely opened up about just how much her sex tape leak impacted her mental health.
The video in question was shared in 2003, allegedly without her consent, and involved her boyfriend at the time, Rick Salomon.
It was reported that Salomon, who was 35 at the time, while Hilton was a teenager at 19, had sold the tape and later marketed it as 'one night stand in Paris'.
Hilton, now 44 years old, recently appeared on the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast on Wednesday (21 January), where she discussed the public release of the intimate footage, recalling just how 'painful' that period of her life was and how the traumatic ordeal still impacts her over two decades later.
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"Growing up, I always looked up to people like Princess Diana and Grace Kelly, amazing, elegant women, and I feel like when he did that [sex tape], he [Salomon] took that away from me, and people would never look at me because of it," she told Shetty.
Hilton, who is now married to author Carter Reum, continued: "It’s something that will probably haunt me for the rest of my life. It makes me so sad for that girl who felt so alone, and it’s so sad I didn’t want to see anyone again after that happened. I was hiding in my house, and I cancelled the entire press tour for The Simple Life."
Elsewhere in the interview, Shetty explained that Hilton said in her upcoming documentary, Infinite Icon: A Visual Memoir, which is set to hit cinemas later this month (30 January), that 'the release of the sex tape was the most painful and violating experience of my life'.
"That was, you know, I’ve been through a lot in my life," Hilton replied, explaining that the sex tape leak 'was one of the most painful experiences to go through'.
She addressed how difficult it was 'to trust someone so much and then to be violated like that' and 'have the entire world watching, laughing, talking about it, like villainising me'.
"I was 19 when this was filmed. I was a child, and I was in love and trusted someone, and I did something I thought that no one would ever see," the mum-of-two added.
If you or someone you know has had an intimate image or video released without their consent, you can visit the Revenge Porn Helpline for help deciding what to do.
Topics: Celebrity, Paris Hilton, Podcasts, Sex and Relationships, Mental Health
Rhiannon Ingle