Paris Whitney Hilton (born February 17, 1981) is an American media personality, businesswoman, socialite, model, and entertainer. Born in New York City, and raised there and in Beverly Hills, California, she is a great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton, the founder of Hilton Hotels. Hilton first attracted tabloid attention in the late 1990s, when she became a fixture in NYC's social scene, and ventured into modeling at age 19, signing with Donald Trump's agency Trump Model Management. After David LaChapelle photographed her and sister Nicky for the September 2000 issue of Vanity Fair, Hilton was proclaimed "New York's leading It Girl" in 2001. The reality television series The Simple Life (2003–2007), in which she starred with her friend Nicole Richie, and a leaked 2003 sex tape with her then-boyfriend Rick Salomon, later released as 1 Night in Paris (2004), catapulted her into global fame. Hilton published her debut book, Confessions of an Heiress (2004), which became a New York Times Best Seller, landed her first major film role in the horror remake House of Wax (2005), and released her eponymous debut studio album, Paris (2006), which reached number six on the Billboard 200 and respectively produced the successful single "Stars Are Blind". She has since starred in further films and television series, recorded a line of standalone singles, and performed as a disc jockey. Her media ventures include the reality television series Paris Hilton's My New BFF (2008–2009), The World According to Paris (2011), Hollywood Love Story (2018), Cooking with Paris (2021), and Paris in Love (2021–2022); the documentaries Paris, Not France (2008), The American Meme (2018), and This Is Paris (2020); as well as her podcast, This Is Paris (2021–present), on iHeartRadio. A polarizing and often derided celebrity, Hilton is credited with influencing the revival of the "famous for being famous" phenomenon throughout the 2000s, and was, for a number of years, one of the world's most ubiquitous public figures. Critics indeed suggest that she exemplifies the celebutante—a household name not through talent or work, but through inherited wealth and lavish lifestyle. Forbes included her in its Celebrity 100 in 2004, 2005, and 2006, and ranked her as the most "overexposed" celebrity in 2006 and 2008. Hilton has parlayed her media fame into numerous business endeavours. Under her company, she has produced content for broadcast media, launched a variety of product lines, and opened a chain of self-branded boutiques worldwide as