Paris Hilton Details Alleged 'Continuous Torture' She Suffered At Boarding School

Paris Hilton is ready to open up about one of the darkest periods in her life.

The heiress previously hinted at a major childhood trauma in the trailer for her upcoming film, This Is Paris, and is now sharing more in a sit-down with People ahead of the release.

She explained:

“I buried my truth for so long. But I’m proud of the strong woman I’ve become. People might assume everything in my life came easy to me, but I want to show the world who I truly am.”

As a teen, Miz Hilton was residing in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in NYC with her parents Rick and Kathy Hilton, and younger siblings Nicky, Barron, and Conrad, which brought temptations to party:

“It was so easy to sneak out and go to clubs and parties. My parents were so strict that it made me want to rebel. They’d [punish me] by taking away my cell phone, taking away my credit card, but it didn’t work. I would still go out on my own.”

Eventually, her parents made the decision to send their 17-year-old to several boarding schools which claimed to focus on mental and behavioral health, the last of which was Provo Canyon School in Utah, where she stayed for 11 months:

“I knew it was going to be worse than anywhere else. It was supposed to be a school, but [classes] were not the focus at all. From the moment I woke up until I went to bed, it was all day screaming in my face, yelling at me, continuous torture.”

Woah!

Paris continued:

“The staff would say terrible things. They were constantly making me feel bad about myself and bully me. I think it was their goal to break us down. And they were physically abusive, hitting and strangling us. They wanted to instill fear in the kids so we’d be too scared to disobey them.”

People reached out for comment on the allegations, to which the school responded:

“Originally opened in 1971, Provo Canyon School was sold by its previous ownership in August 2000. We therefore cannot comment on the operations or patient experience prior to this time.”

Three of The Simple Life alum’s former classmates appear in the documentary, and make similar accusations against the school, including that they were held down by restraints, force-fed medication, and placed in solitary confinement.

The alleged abuse took a serious toll on Hilton, she described, and she was unable to tell her parents what happened:

“I was having panic attacks and crying every single day. I was just so miserable. I felt like a prisoner and I hated life. I didn’t really get to speak to my family, maybe once every two or three months. We were cut off from the outside world. And when I tried to tell them once, I got in so much trouble I was scared to say it again. They would grab the phone or rip up letters I wrote telling me, ‘No one is going to believe you.’ And the staff would tell the parents that the kids were lying. So my parents had no idea what was going on.”

Once she turned 18 in 1999, she left the school and returned to the East Coast terrified to tell anyone about what she had endured:

“I was so grateful to be out of there, I didn’t even want to bring it up again. It was just something I was ashamed of and I didn’t want to speak of it.”

20 years have now passed since she was in school, and the mogul says she does not have any plans to pursue legal action against the school, but wants to raise awareness about these behavior-focused schools:

“I want these places shut down. I want them to be held accountable. And I want to be a voice for children and now adults everywhere who have had similar experiences. I want it to stop for good and I will do whatever I can to make it happen.”

Paris says:

“It feels like my nightmare is over. And I’m going to watch the movie with my parents — I think it will be good for us, but emotional too. There are no more secrets.”

We can expect to hear more when This Is Paris premieres on September 14 on YouTube Originals.

[Image via Paris Hilton/YouTube.]