Paris Hilton has shared harrowing details about the abuse she suffered as a teenager during her time attending Provo Canyon School in the 1990s.
Provo Canyon School is an infamous “therapeutic boarding school” in the American state of Utah. It’s just one of many institutions in the billion-dollar “troubled teen industry”. This one, however, is notorious because of the heinous abuse allegations made by several celebrities who were forced to attend Provo as children in need of help.
Paris Hilton has been at the forefront of calls to close down the school, which she claims was abusive. She detailed some of the “treatment” she experienced online and be warned: it is truly distressing stuff.
Sleep-deprived & heavily medicated, I didn’t understand what was happening. I was forced to lie on a padded table, spread my legs & submit to cervical exams. I cried while they held me down & said, “No!” They just said, “Shut up. Be quiet. Stop struggling or you’ll go to Obs.”
— ParisHilton (@ParisHilton) October 11, 2022
“At Provo Canyon School, I was woken up in the middle of the night by male staff who ushered me into a private room and performed cervical exams on me,” Paris wrote on Twitter.
“Sleep deprived and heavily medicated, I didn’t understand what was happening. I was forced to lie on a padded table, spread my legs and submit to cervical exams.
“I cried while they held me down and said ‘No!’. They just said ‘Shut up. Be quiet. Stop struggling or you’ll go to Obs’.”
Speaking to the New York Times, Paris elaborated on the incident which she said was a common occurrence.
It’s known as the troubled teen industry. Spread across the U.S., these facilities and programs are supposed to help children with mental health and behavioral issues.
In reality, it is harming many of them. https://t.co/bCBYEdpVYm pic.twitter.com/qvm3LZ8oth
— New York Times Opinion (@nytopinion) October 11, 2022
“Very, very late in the night, this would be around three or four in the morning,” she recalled.
“They would take myself and other girls into this room and they would perform medical exams.
“This wasn’t even with a doctor. It was a couple of different staff members, where they would have us lay on the table and put their fingers inside of us.
“I don’t know what they were doing, but it was definitely not a doctor,” she added tearfully.
“It was really scary, and it’s something that I really had blocked out for many years. But it’s coming back all the time now and I think about it.
“Now, looking back as an adult, that was definitely sexual abuse.”
It’s important to open up about these painful moments so I can heal & help put an end to this abuse. Watch the @NYTimes video that shares my story & deeply disturbing information about Provo Canyon School’s owners Universal Health Services. Help me #ShutDownProvo #UHSTakeAction
— ParisHilton (@ParisHilton) October 11, 2022
Paris Hilton previously alleged she was also “strangled” at the school. And she’s not the only celebrity to speak out against it.
Drew Barrymore also attended Provo Canyon and revealed she was placed in solitary confinement for long swathes of time.
“I’ve been locked up in solitary confinement, I’ve been in a place for lengthy periods of time — we’re talking a year, a year and a half, plus,” she said on her talk show.
Kat Von D attended the school briefly and called the situation “torturous” and “the most traumatic six months” of her life.
“I spent those six traumatic months of my teenage years, only to leave with major PTSD and other traumas due to the unregulated, unethical and abusive protocols of this ‘school’ — and cannot believe this place is STILL OPERATING,” she wrote in an Instagram post after watching Paris’ documentary This Is Paris.
Fellow survivor Lee Goldman told Fox News she was sodomised during an attempt to force the intake medication without her consent.
“I didn’t experience strangling but I did experience manhandling. The school recorded that they had five or six staff members restrain me at once. I’m all of 100 pounds,” she said.
Jeb Robison, yet another survivor, said she was shoved and staff rubbed her face into the carpet until it had “burns”.
Paris Hilton testified in a Utah courtroom in 2021 about the abuse she endured, in support of a bill focused on regulating these institutions to protect vulnerable kids.
“I needed this bill when I was in residential care and I am honored to support the thousands of youth who now have greater protections,” she said at the time.
“This is only the beginning — I plan to approach the federal arena with a bill that will protect youth across the nation in these types of facilities.”
The Provo Canyon School, for its part, said in a statement that it was “sold by its previous ownership in August 2000.”
“What we can say is that the school provides a structured environment teaching life-skills, providing behavioral health therapy, and continuing education for youth who come to us with pre-existing and complex emotional, behavioral and psychiatric needs,” the statement read, per E! News.
“These youth have not been successful in typical home and school environments, and in many cases have a history of engaging in dangerous behaviors such as self-harming and/or attempting suicide, physical violence and/or aggression toward others, and use of illicit substances.”
You can read The New York Times’ full investigation into the abuse of mentally ill teens at instituations like these here.
Help is available.
If you require immediate assistance, please call 000.
If you’d like to speak to someone about sexual violence, please call the 1800 Respect hotline on 1800 737 732 or chat online.
Under 25? You can reach Kids Helpline at 1800 55 1800 or chat online.
