The Paris Hilton you think you know isn’t the real Paris. “I’m not a dumb blonde. I was just very good at pretending to be one,” Hilton told Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott. She writes about this and more in ‘Paris: The Memoir’ (Dey Street Books, March 14). “A lot of what I did with this character was just a trauma response to all the abuse that I went through as a teenager.” Placed in the controversial Provo Canyon School, a mental health treatment center for girls, Paris writes candidly about the abuse she suffered. “When I was coming out of Provo, I definitely modeled my character on Marilyn Monroe.” When you know this about Paris, you begin to understand so much about her. Now a new wife and mother—“I didn’t even know what love was until I met this baby”—Paris, who says she always felt “judged” and “alone” as a young woman, is ready to share her story on her terms. “I’ve lived this crazy, amazing life, but there’s also been so many hard times, and I just wanted to put it all out there because I’m proud of the woman that I am today and everything that I’ve been through. I’m a bada**.” 

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