SPRINGVILLE, Utah — Paris Hilton walked back onto the grounds of a Utah boarding school Monday where she says she endured abuse as a teenager, this time to stand with two families who filed lawsuits that same day claiming their children were harmed at the same facility.
Hilton was at Provo Canyon School in Springville to lend her voice to new legal action against the institution, where she spent nearly a year in the late 1990s. The hotel heiress and media personality has alleged that staff members physically beat her, watched her shower, gave her unidentified pills, and placed her in solitary confinement without clothing.
“I dreamed of becoming strong enough, successful enough and powerful enough to come back and be the hero that I needed when I was a little girl locked inside,” Hilton said. “Today is that day, and I am not backing down.”
The school is currently under new ownership, and its administration has stated it is unable to address anything that occurred prior to the ownership change, including the period when Hilton was enrolled there.
Hilton, who is 45 years old, is urging Utah licensing authorities to close the school permanently. Over the years, she has testified about her experiences before Congress and in state legislatures across the country, contributing to the passage of protective laws for minors in Utah and 15 other states. Utah has long been a significant hub for what is called the troubled teen industry — a network of private, for-profit residential programs for young people with behavioral challenges.
State health officials placed restrictions on Provo Canyon School’s operating license in May after determining that staff failed to seek prompt medical care for a student who suffered serious injuries. Those restrictions, which include a ban on accepting new students, are scheduled to expire Thursday.
One of Monday’s lawsuits was filed by Aleah Corona, the mother of the injured student. She alleges that after another resident slammed her 13-year-old son’s head into the ground, the school did not respond quickly enough. The boy suffered a fractured jaw and a traumatic brain injury, according to her account. A second family alleged that their daughter endured severe stomach pain and nausea for more than a week before the school arranged appropriate medical care, after which she experienced kidney failure, according to their lawsuit.
The school declined to comment on the specific cases, citing patient privacy laws, but released a statement saying: “At Provo Canyon School, the safety, dignity, and well-being of those entrusted to our care are our highest priorities.”
As she approached the campus, Hilton walked with both middle fingers raised, telling The Associated Press she would not be intimidated by a place where she once feared for her life on a daily basis.
She also cautioned that parents, including her own, can be misled by the marketing used by facilities like this one, which often present themselves as safe environments for struggling teens.
“These places really just pray on parents who are just looking for help for their children,” Hilton said. “I wasn’t a bad kid, I was just sneaking out at night, getting bad grades. I had ADHD, so I wasn’t doing well in school, but this was definitely not the place that I should’ve been sent. My parents had no idea.”
