Paris Hilton appeared Thursday on Capitol Hill to push for newly introduced legislation that would regulate “troubled teen” facilities.
Hilton, 42, has been outspoken about her time at the Provo Canyon School in Utah, a residential treatment center where she claimed she was abused — revealing traumatic details in her 2020 YouTube documentary “This Is Paris.”
“When I was 16, I was sent away, and I was emotionally, verbally, physically and sexually abused,” Hilton said Thursday on “Fox & Friends.”
She continued: “This is still happening today at these places, and 200,000 children are being sent away to these places every single year.”
The Post reached out to reps at the Provo Canyon School for comment.
In her documentary, the “Simple Life” star alleged that she was forced to take drugs and was put in solitary confinement while at the school.
While on “Fox & Friends,” she claimed some of these schools, which specialize in treating kids who suffer from addiction or emotional or behavioral problems, can sometimes “disguise” themselves.
“There are thousands of these schools and they disguise themselves as emotional growth schools, wilderness camps, 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 “Stars are Blind” singer said she wasn’t allowed to tell her parents about what was going on at the school since everything was “monitored” — claiming that she was “cut off from the outside world.”
“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,” she told “Fox & Friends.” “And they have no voice.”
She explained that she is turning her own painful experiences into advocacy for other kids in a similar situation. She is pushing for the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act.
“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,” bill co-sponsor Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.), told Fox News.
In 2021, after Hilton’s documentary premiered, Provo Canyon School released a statement saying the facility was under new ownership after being sold in 2000. School officials said they do not use solitary confinement as a form of punishment.
They also added, “We do not condone or promote any form of abuse. Any and all alleged/suspected abuse is reported immediately to our state regulatory authorities, law enforcement and Child Protective Services, as required.”
In the last two years, Hilton has advocated for reform of “troubled teen” schools.
In 2021, she lobbied for a legal bill of rights for kids being held in congregate care facilities, like the one she attended.
“Imagine if it was your child who was suffering abuse, neglect or death in the name of treatment, wouldn’t you do everything in your power to protect them?” Hilton asked at a news conference at the time.
She has also raised awareness about a nonprofit organization called Breaking Code Silence, which describes itself as a “network of institutional abuse survivors who are/were incarcerated in the US ‘troubled teen industry.’ “
The group works to prevent abuse and empower survivors.
Amid her fight, Hilton will be attending this year’s Met Gala, Monday, for the first time.
Her sister, Nicky Hilton, attended just once, in 2001.
