Paris Hilton advocates for reforming troubled teen industry: ‘Turning my pain into a purpose’
Entrepreneur Paris Hilton and Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., discuss their efforts to reform the troubled teen industry with a new bill that aims to help states prevent and treat child abuse.
Paris Hilton is taking her own childhood experiences and using them for a purpose to advocate for reforms in the troubled teen industry.
"I'm doing everything I can in my power to fight for these children because these are children who come from families that can't help and support them and children from the juvenile justice system, foster care system. And they have no voice," Hilton said on "Fox & Friends" Thursday.
"So I'm really just turning my pain into a purpose and using my platform to help make a difference and save children's lives because hundreds of children have died in the name of treatment in these places."
In 2020, Hilton alleged she had been the victim of emotional and physical abuse as a teen attending Utah's Provo Canyon School. She says she was the victim of a "parent-approved kidnapping" when she was a misbehaving 16-year-old, with two men dragging her out of her home and into a congregate-care facility.
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Hilton alleges staffers at the Canyon School beat her and forced her to sit naked in solitary confinement rooms as punishment, among other things.
"I was choked, slapped across the face, spied on while showering and deprived of sleep," she alleged. "I was called vulgar names and forced to take medication without a diagnosis. At one Utah facility, I was locked in solitary confinement in a room where the walls were covered in scratch marks and blood stains."
The school, which changed owners in 2000, declined to comment to Fox News Digital when Hilton first revealed the alleged abuse in 2021.
"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."
The hotel heiress also testified about her experience in the documentary "This is Paris."
Since the documentary was released, other celebrities have spoken out about their experiences at the school or others like it, including Michael Jackson’s daughter Paris Jackson and tattoo artist Kat Von D.
"I'm really just turning my pain into a purpose and using my platform to help make a difference and save children's lives because hundreds of children have died in the name of treatment in these places." - Paris Hilton
"I was not able to tell my parents because everything was monitored. And if I said anything negative about what was happening, they would immediately hang up the phone and punish me. So it was just terrifying and I wasn't able to tell my family. I was cut off from the outside world," she said.
The American celebrity is a staunch advocate for the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act, a bill that has received bipartisan and bicameral support since it was introduced.
"When I found out that it was still happening today, I knew I couldn't sleep well at night knowing that. And I knew that I needed to use my voice and really turn my pain into a purpose and make a difference for other children's lives," she said.
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Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., who is a co-sponsor of the bill, praised Hilton "for her courageous act of speaking up and speaking out about what happened to her."
"Who among us did not struggle as a teen. That's just part of the normal growing-up process. And that's why it's so very important we understand," Rep. Carter said during the segment with Hilton. "There are some good facilities out there that provide care and counseling and treatment, but there are also some out there that cause physical and mental damage."
Hilton warned that not only is her former school in Utah still operating, but also there are other similar schools and institutions open across the nation.
"There are thousands of these schools and they disguise themselves as emotional growth schools, wilderness camps. But these are just names that they put and they have false advertising and people have no idea what's happening behind closed doors," she said.
The Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act aims to provide increased oversight and transparency as well as require more documentation from organizations on treatments used.
"What this bill is going to do is to enhance the collection of data and of information so that we can see what the goals, what the practices, the ethics of some of these group homes and these facilities are so that parents and children can make an informed decision on whether they want to participate or not," Carter explained.
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Hilton and other survivors of the "troubled teen industry" are expected to speak at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday.
Fox News' Stephanie Nolasco and Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.
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