Paris Hilton has officially started a movement thanks to her documentary, This is Paris!
As we reported, the hotel heiress opened up about the “continuous torture” she suffered at Utah’s Provo Canyon School in the YouTube film, telling cameras she was physically abused and psychologically tormented during the 11 months she spent at the boarding school and psychiatric residential treatment center.
Now, other former students are coming forward to confirm Paris’ abuse allegations and reveal their own, with alum sharing their experiences of being force-fed, restrained by six staff members at once, and in one case, allegedly being sodomized.
Six other former students, along with a former staffer who was so shocked by the school’s methods that she quit, got candid in an interview with Fox News, sharing with the outlet how multiple staff members would “tackle” disobedient students, bully them, and physically abuse them in multiple ways.
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One of the most disturbing allegations came from Lee Goldman, who claimed that a therapist at the school sodomized her during her time there in an attempt to inject medication against her will. She sued the school over the alleged incident, but said the case was dismissed due to failure to prosecute.
She told the station:
“I did experience some of the same abuse [as Paris]. I didn’t experience strangling but I did experience manhandling. The school recorded that they had five or six staff members restrain me at once. I’m all of 100 pounds.”
The 33-year-old Canada native claimed that another student had their teeth knocked out by staff, while another was in a medically-induced coma after being denied medical care.
Um… WTF kind of place was this!?
Another Provo alum described her time there as a “living nightmare,” claiming that an accident at the school left her with a concussion. She went on to say that staff didn’t notify her mother about the injury for hours — and when they did, they minimized its severity. She claims she has since developed a stutter.
A third former student, Jen Robison, recalled a classmate allegedly being “shoved into the ground” before “staff rubbed her face into the carpet until her entire face was covered in burns.”
Related: Paris Says She Was ‘Pressured’ Into 2003 Sex Tape
Meanwhile, a separate student revealed she was force-fed — which led to her gaining 30 lbs — and said The Simple Life star was force-fed as well. Stefanie Tapley, another classmate, specifically remembered Paris being bullied by school employees, saying the staff “made fun” of her frequently.
The handful of accusers who spoke to Fox News remembered the school’s “Dial 9” emergency protocol that was put into effect when students were supposedly self-harming or being harmful to others — which would prompt up to six staffers to respond by “tackling” that student.
A former staffer who was hired at 23-years old said they ended up quitting two weeks after a particularly disturbing “Dial 9” incident, alleging:
“Staff would tackle kids — I can’t tell you how many times I saw that… One incident involved an African American boy at the school during my time. A staff member woke him up at 3 a.m. because he forgot to take his meds. The kid didn’t like getting woken up in the middle of the night, and the staff ended up calling a ‘Dial 9’ and tackled him. We all had to go and watch staff pin this kid down, drag him to isolation. The guy who beat him was my boss. This was 100 per cent instigated by staff. A bully picking on a defenseless little kid.”
The ex-employee explained that most of the staff were similarly young, inexperienced, and not properly trained for restraining students. Their only instruction was allegedly a week of “looking at slides” with no hands-on training component.
A rep told the New York Times that the facility does “not condone or promote any form of abuse” and that “any and all alleged/suspected abuse is reported to our state regulatory authorities, law enforcement and Child Protective Services immediately as required.” But the former staffer who interviewed with Fox News called this response a “cop-out,” as other alumni have noted that while the school’s ownership may have changed, there are still some staffers at the school who were there before.
Fortunately, these former students are also thrilled that Paris’ allegations have empowered other alleged victims to share their own stories. Goldman, who made the sodomy allegations, said there’s a whole “industry” to be exposed, noting:
“Paris coming out about this could make really large changes in the industry as a whole. She’s a hero.”
We’re so proud of Paris for sharing her truth — and it sounds like these other former students are, too!
[Image via Adriana M. Barraza/WENN]