Katharina Buczek
But, while Lindsey Lohan and Brittney Spears received their own unfortunate shares of bimbo-esque labeling, nothing could compare to the “dumb blonde” archetype that Paris Hilton had to overcome.
Exactly how Paris Hilton was able to squash this small-minded expectation of smart, young women, though, was via a persistent and almost counterintuitive long game. She did the opposite of what people expected– she played into the trope and allowed the public’s fascination to catapult her to fame.
Meghan Markle recently invited Paris Hilton onto her podcast, Archetypes, to discuss this incredible feat. And the pop culture icon shared how after moving to New York, she could not seem to escape the tabloids.
“Just getting that label put on me of ‘party girl,’ ‘dumb blonde,’ you know, ‘spoiled,’ and ‘rich heiress,’ I mean, it was difficult– because a lot of the times, people would just make up or invent stories to make it more exciting,” Paris recalled.
And for a while, the media chatter surrounding her mere existence was just something that Paris tried to ignore. She tried not to look at page six, even though the derogatory comments were neverending.
Then, Paris revealed how she was sent away to a boarding school in Utah named Provo Canyon School by her parents at age sixteen. And that experience, despite being extremely abusive and distressing, lit a fire inside her.
Apparently, the Hiltons thought that Provo Canyon was going to help straighten her out. After all, the teen had just moved to New York, was thrust into the club scene, and was making headlines following nights of partying practically every other day.
According to Paris, though, the school did everything but nurture her emotional growth– beginning with the first day she arrived.
“As soon as I walked in, they brought me into a room with male and female staff and, like, three of the other students and had me take off all of my clothes and do a strip search in front of these people,” Paris recalled.
Then, every day afterward, Paris and the rest of the school’s students were broken down to a point where they began to question their worth in the first place.
“On a daily basis, it was all about really breaking you down, so you’re worthless. ‘No one loves you. You’re going to be nothing in life.’ They would just do that to all of us all day long,” Paris said.
