Paris Hilton has opened up about her experience at a correctional school when she was 16 years old, revealing she was physically and mentally abused during her time there.
In an interview with The Times, Hilton said she was sent to the Provo Canyon School in Utah as a teenager after her parents discovered she had been bunking off school and partying without their permission.
The reality TV star and businesswoman said that time in her life was one of her lowest and told interviewer Laura Pullman that she was beaten, forced to take pills and called a “spoiled brat.”
“It was just terrifying to be in a place every day where people who work there were sadistic and wanted to torture and hurt children,” adding,”I don’t wish that on anyone.”
Hilton said the medication she was given made her head “foggy” and that any letters she wrote home were monitored. According to Hilton, kids in the school were often sent into solitary confinement as a method, “to break you down as much as possible.”
Paris also spoke about her experiences with People magazine, revealing, “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.”
She told People, “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.”
According to The Times, the school has since changed ownership, but Hilton’s account has been supported by other survivors who claim they were also abused at the facility.
Hilton speaks about the abuse in her new documentary, This Is Paris, which is set to be released on YouTube on September 14.