Paris Hilton Calls Princess Diana Her Idol, Says She’s Rooting for Prince Harry

(Image credit: Getty)

published 19 March 2023

Paris Hilton may not be British royalty, but many would call her Hollywood royalty—and she certainly knows what it’s like to experience fame (and be part of a famous dynasty). She’s been making the press rounds herself lately, as she now shares another commonality with Prince Harry: She’s written a memoir. Hers, simply titled Paris: The Memoir, hit shelves last week. Spare, written by Harry, was released in January and became the fastest-selling nonfiction book of all time.

In one of her recent interviews—this one on the British show “Magic Radio Breakfast”—Hilton confirmed she too had read Spare, and that she had watched Harry and wife Meghan Markle’s Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan. She revealed that she is a big fan of Harry’s, saying “He has been through so much and I can’t imagine just losing my mom—Princess Diana has always been one of my idols,” she said. “It just breaks my heart they had to go through that.”

Anyone who remembers Hilton’s heyday in the early to mid-2000s knows that she can also relate to Harry when it comes to media scrutiny and paparazzi harassment.

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“And I know how it is with the media,” she said. “It can be so hard when they are just invading your lives constantly, and he has had that his entire life.”

The commonalities continue as Hilton remembers dealing with her personal issues by going through a partying phase—roughly around the same time as Harry was doing the same an ocean away. OK reports “It wasn’t until the last few years that Hilton revealed her wild and seemingly ditzy behavior was an act she put on to hide the trauma she experienced growing up.” Hilton “said she was raped and drugged, sexually and physically abused at a Utah boarding school and groomed into having a relationship with a teacher when she was in eighth grade.” She first revealed these experiences in her 2020 documentary This Is Paris and opened up further in her new book.

While being vulnerable wasn’t easy, Hilton said that by doing so she found it both freeing for herself and helpful for others—similar sentiments to comments Harry has made about opening up in Spare.

“That really just started me on this path of self-discovery, and just seeing how much impact that I’ve made, especially in the troubled teen industry,” Hilton said. “It’s just been incredibly empowering since then. The media has really controlled the story of me for over two decades, and it was just time now for me to tell the truth.”

Paris Hilton and Prince Harry—proof that, even if not immediately apparent on the surface, we all have more in common than may initially meet the naked eye. Fully hoping PH + PH meet up for coffee soon in L.A. and become new friends.

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Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.