Paris Hilton has explained the one detail that will continue to 'haunt' her following a sex tape leak when she was just 19.
The video of 'The Stars Are Blind' singer was leaked in 2004, allegedly without her consent, that involved her then-boyfriend Rick Salomon, who was 35 years old at the time.
It was reported Solomon sold the tape of the former couple having sex and marketed it as 'one night stand in Paris'.
Hilton was brutally mocked in the media in the public eye following the leak, and the model has spoken in various interviews about the damaging impact it's had on her over the year.
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The now 44-year-old spoke about the awful experience in an episode of the Jay Shetty Podcast, which was posted on Wednesday (January 21).
In the discussion, Hilton discussed her concern that people would not look at her in the same way after the clip leaked.
Hilton said: "Growing up, I always looked up to people like Princess Diana and Grace Kelly, amazing elegant women and I feel like when he did that [sex tape], he [Salomon] took that away from me and people would never look at me because of it."
She continued: "It’s something that will probably haunt me for the rest of my life. It makes me so sad for that girl that felt so alone, and it’s so sad I didn’t want to see anyone again after that happened. I was hiding in my house and I canceled the entire press tour for the simple life."
Hilton went on to say how she believes she 'will never heal' from the tape being leaked.
The media personality has previously discussed how she has began to discover a sense of 'healing' that non-consensual release of such footage would be seen as an act of revenge porn in the present day.
Speaking to The Sunday Times, Hilton said: "Like, that would be illegal today. People realise just how wrong it was. And that has also been healing for me, for people to be, like, 'wow, Paris was just a teenage girl being taken advantage of by this older guy.'"
The Take It Down Act was signed into US law in May last year, making it a federal crime to knowingly publish intimate images without consent.
If you or someone you know has had an intimate image or video released without their consent, you can visit the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative’s (CCRI) Safety Center for help deciding what to do. CCRI also has an Image Abuse Helpline at 1-844-878-CCRI (2274).
Topics: Paris Hilton, Celebrity
Callum Jones