The night-walkers of Uganda

173

---

Hilton to use her fame to promote 
‘great causes’ 
Mark Oliver and agencies
June 28, 2007
 
The heiress and celebrity Paris Hilton has just 
spent 23 days in a prison in California. After 
leaving prison she appeared on an American TV 
programme called the Larry King Show on CNN. 
In an interview with Larry King she said that she 
will now spend less time at parties and will work 
to raise money for various social causes. The 
hotel heiress told Larry King that she wants to 
raise money for children and people suffering 
from cancer. She also wants to start a centre to 
help women after they leave prison. 
“There are more important things in life than 
going to parties,” said Hilton during an hour-long 
interview. “I’m sick of it. I’ve been going out for a 
long time now. Yeah, it’s fun, but it’s not going to 
be the most important thing in my life any more,” 
she said. She said she would never drink and 
drive again and also said she did not have an 
alcohol problem. She told King that the world 
would now see a new Paris Hilton. 
Hilton did not receive any money for the 
interview. She said she now wanted to be a 
better role model. When she was alone in her 
cell for 23 hours a day, she spent all her time 
reading, writing a prison diary and thinking,
she said.
Hilton read from her prison diary on the CNN 
show. “I feel as if I am in the spotlight,” she said. 
“I think I can make people think about a lot of 
important causes. I don’t want to do stupid things 
like going to parties. I want to help raise money 
for children and for people suffering from breast 
cancer and other serious diseases.” 
She spoke about her feelings for the women 
prisoners she met in jail and said she wanted 
to help them to start their lives again when they 
leave prison. “I know I can make a difference. 
Maybe I can help to stop these people going in 
and out of jail.” 
Hilton said she suffered from claustrophobia 
while she was in prison. She also said she had 
nightmares of “someone trying to break into 
my cell and hurt me”. She said that meditating 
and reading letters from fans helped her to 
survive. “The whole idea of being in jail is really 
frightening,” she said. “I hate to be alone so that 
was really just hard for me in the beginning.” She 
was now at a crossroads in her life, she said, but 
said that her time in prison was “not a failure, but 
a new beginning”. 
She said: “In a way I’m pleased it happened 
because it’s changed my life for ever. I feel 
stronger than before and I feel like this is a kind 
of lesson for me.” When King asked her about 
the people she spends time with, which includes 
the singer Britney Spears and the actress 
Lindsay Lohan, Hilton replied: “Everybody makes 
mistakes.” 
She said that it was wrong to think that she lives 
off her family’s money. “I work very hard. I have 
my own business. I’ve written a book. I’ve been 
doing a TV show for five years. I made a CD. I do 
movies,” she said.
Last week, Hilton, who went to Catholic schools 
as a child, told TV journalist Barbara Walters that 
she had become more religious and wanted to 
work with children. She told King she had always 
been religious and was now more religious after 
being in jail. She bought a Bible in jail and read 
it every day, she said. When King asked her to 
name her favourite part of the Bible, she just 
smiled. “I don’t have a favourite,” she said.