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Paris Hilton is back in D.C.! The hotel heiress, reality star, and DJ made her way to the White House on the morning of May 10 for another meeting to advocate for the teens living in congregate care facilities such as Utah’s Provo Canyon School, which she was sent to at 16 years old. Paris looked well put together and determined as she entered the West Wing dressed in a matching black trousers and blazer set. She wore a black blouse underneath the blazer that was embellished with a thick, white-outlined black bow that sat at the center of her neckline. Husband Carter Reum, 40, walked proudly by her side. More AboutParis Hilton
Paris Hilton arrives at the Hart Senate Office Building to meet with lawmakers on Capitol Hill on May 10, 2022 (Photo: SAMUEL CORUM/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)Paris posed for photos before entering the building but refrained from answering any press questions. However, CNN reported that a White House official said “she met with state and national advocates as part of her advocacy efforts to improve protections of youth in residential programs and facilities.” They added that Paris, policy staff, and others who endured similar unfair treatment by these facilities “shared their powerful stories and discussed issues pertinent to the protection of institutionalized youth in America.”
According to an opinion piece the businesswoman wrote in October 2021 for The Washington Post, she was taken to Provo Canyon School in the middle of the night when she was a teen and had no idea what was going on. “At all four facilities I was sent to in my teens, I endured physical and psychological abuse by staff: I was choked, slapped across the face, spied on while showering and deprived of sleep. I was called vulgar names and forced to take medication without a diagnosis,” she claimed. “At one Utah facility, I was locked in solitary confinement in a room where the walls were covered in scratch marks and blood stains.”
Paris Hilton looks confident as she heads into meetings with lawmakers and abuse survivors on Capitol Hill (Photo: SAMUEL CORUM/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)Two days after her piece was published, she spoke on Capitol Hill about the horrors she endured as well. “At Provo Canyon School in Utah, I was given clothes with a number on the tag. I was no longer me, I was only number 127. I was forced to stay indoors for 11 months straight, no sunlight, no fresh air. These were considered privileges,” she said. She also publicly supported the Accountability for Congregate Care Act, which is meant to end abuse at youth congregate care facilities. “I am confident that this bill will create a world where all youth have the support and opportunity they need to heal, thrive, and not just survive,” she noted.
Paris had never spoken about the traumas she went through until 2021. She hinted about the pain she suffered during her involuntary stay at her facility on Naomi Campbell‘s YouTube show No Filter in April 2021, and then finally opened up about her experience in her YouTube Originals documentary, This Is Paris, which debuted in September of that year. Related Link
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