UTAH COUNTY -- In an interview ahead of her documentary set to be released next month, Paris Hilton told People Magazine she was abused at a boarding school in Utah County.
Hilton attended Provo Canyon School as a teen in the 1990s for 11 months, she told People.
“I knew it was going to be worse than anywhere else,” she said of when she arrived after attending other similar schools and behavioral treatment centers. “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 speaks more on her experience in This Is Paris, her documentary premiering Sept. 14 on her YouTube channel.
She says staff physically, mentally and emotionally abused her and other teens at the school, including being put in solitary confinement for up to 20 hours at a time.
"They wanted to instill fear in the kids so we’d be too scared to disobey them," she said.
The experience traumatized her for years, she said, afraid to speak to anyone about it until now.
The school responded to People's request for comment with the following statement:
“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.”
