always say the best things.” Such as? “When I was a baby, a
psychic told my grandmother that I was going to be one of
the most famous and photographed women in the world
one day.” Fair enough. “Other psychics have said I’m related
to Marilyn Monroe and things like that. My mom just
did one of those 23andMe DNA kits and I am related to
Marilyn Monroe and Queen Elizabeth. That’s what it said!”
Growing up in a dynasty like the Hiltons, she must have
met some amazing people. Hilton looks nonplussed. Wasn’t
her mum friends with Andy Warhol? “Yeah, my mum was
friends with him and they would go out. I was one or two
and I used to sit on his lap and draw. My nanny used to call
me Star and he loved that. He’d always go, ‘This girl is a star.’
“I’ve met everyone, so no one has made me star-struck,”
she muses. “Except Madonna. I was in London at an awards
show and she tapped on my shoulder and said, ‘I’m with
the same record label and I loveStars Are Blind; I love your
music’. I almost fainted. She’s been my idol since I was little.
That was the only time I’ve ever been nervous over anyone.”
I’d almost forgotten about her stint as a pop star. Sadly we’ve
run out of time because, true to form, Hilton has a party to
go to – a dinner for Diddy’s 50th birthday, with the rest of the
Hilton clan. If that’s not “sliving it”, I don’t know what is.◆
PARIS’S NOT-SO-SIMPLE LIFE
Includes pop, cops, feuds and dudes (same, tbh...)
February 2002
Juicy Couture tracksuits
and Von Dutch trucker hats.
Hilton’s looks are so iconic
she could open a museum.
Of course, the most
unforgettable of them all
was the Julien Macdonald
chain-mail dress she wore
to her 21st birthday.
June 2003
Hilton appeared
in early ’00s films
such as Zoolander,
but it was her starring
role in leaked sex tape
“1 Night In Paris”
alongside ex-boyfriend
Rick Salomon that
skyrocketed her to
December 2003 fame. Ooh la la.
- August 2007
Somehow, it’s been
17 years since The
Simple Life first aired
and heiresses Hilton
and Nicole Richie - whose adoptive
father is singer Lionel - were stripped of
their cash and sent
to live and work in
the real world. The
ultimate ’00s LOLs.
July 2004
After seven months
together (and his-
and-hers tattoos),
Hilton and former
Backstreet Boy Nick
Carter parted ways.
“Our relationship
totally was based on
distrust,” said Carter.
“She didn’t trust me.
I didn’t trust her.”
August 2006
When Hilton shared
her self-titled debut
album, some saw it
as a joke. But the
joke was on them
when the record
reached number six on
the US Billboard charts
and sold over 600,000
copies worldwide.
November 2006
Fourteen years later
and we are still living
in the midst of a Paris
Hilton and Lindsay
Lohan feud. In 2018,
Hilton threw fresh
shade at LiLo claiming
she gatecrashed the
now-legendary photo
taken of her, Lohan
and Britney Spears
affectionately known
as “The Holy Trinity”
back in 2006.
August 2010
Only Hilton can make
a mugshot look like a
cover shoot, as proved
here in 2010. She was
first arrested in 2006,
for driving under the
influence, before
subsequent arrests
in 2007 and 2010.
She’s been on good
behaviour ever since.
November 2019
Hilton and Chris
Zylka were caught up
in the Great Celebrity
Engagement
Movement of 2018,
but after around two
years and a $2 million
rock, she called it off.
“I’m just really having
my ‘me’ time,” she
said. “It was [a]
whirlwind romance.”
August 2019
Kim Kardashian,
whose friendship
with Hilton goes way
back to the mid-’00s,
admitted that Hilton
launched her career
by taking her under
her It-girl wing on
red carpets and the
Hollywood party circuit
during a 2019 series
ofKUWTK. “I really
would wanna do
anything for her,” Kim
told sister Khloé. “She
literally gave me a
career, and I totally
acknowledge that.”
COSMOPOLITAN ·^79
PRODUCTION LA: NELLY CASTILLO/JOAN PLA VENDETTA ENTERTAINMENT. WITH THANKS TO ADRIAN VAN DER HOEVEN. ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS GETTY, ALAMY, MOVIE STILLS DB, BAUER GRIFFIN. TOP, ALICE & OLIVIA. BRIEFS, DEAD LOTUS COUTURE. SHOES, SOPHIA WEBSTER