Paris: The Memoir

Paris Hilton attended four residential boarding schools for troubled youth during her teen years in the 1990s. She centers much of her memoir around her time at these facilities. She recounts emotional, physical, verbal, and sexual abuse at the schools. Many other former students/patients have claimed similar abuse at these locations. Some of these schools are still open today, but legislation has been enacted to try to reform some of the schools, in part because of Hilton’s advocacy work.

Hilton claims that the worst of the schools she attended was Provo Canyon School in Provo, Utah. This school is still in operation and has programs for high school boys, high school girls, and middle school boys. The school’s website calls their institution a behavioral health center that focuses on the “academic, therapeutic, and developmental needs” of patients (“Compassionate Behavioral Health Center in Provo, UT.” Provo Canyon School). The school is accredited by The Joint Commission and Cognia.

Numerous accusations have been made against the school. For example, celebrity Kat Von D has claimed to have witnessed abuse at the facility. She was a patient there for two years. While the school is now owned by Universal Health Services, a different company than owned the school when Hilton was there, there are still allegations of abuse. Many of the accusations mirror those that Hilton described: sedation, isolation, and the use of chemical and physical restraints. Hilton claims to have PTSD from her time at Provo and the other schools. Other celebrities such as Drew Barrymore and Paris Jackson have also claimed to have experienced PTSD from their time at similar schools.