Paris Hilton is ready to do something she's never done before: Let people see her true self.
The socialite-turned-DJ, original influencer and veteran reality TV star is the focus of a new YouTube Originals documentary, "This Is Paris," which debuts in May.
She spoke to reporters about the project at a TV Critics Association Winter Press Tour event in Pasadena, California, on Jan. 18. "I've never done anything like this in my life," Paris told Deadline. "In this film I discuss things I've never discussed before. I hope that people are going to see who I truly am."
She further told Deadline of the new documentary, "It follows me in my real life, everything I've done before was me playing a character. I was talking about things that are very hard to talk about. It was an amazing experience but it was very scary. I was freaking out."
Paris opened up to People magazine at the event too, explaining the fallout of her decision to take on a false persona — people loved to hate her as a vapid airheaded blonde — while shooting her breakout reality TV show, "The Simple Life," with former best friend Nicole Richie starting in 2003. "I knew what I was doing but the whole world didn't, so it was kind of frustrating to me to be perceived in that way because it's not who I am at all," she said. "But it was such an amazing and entertaining show that I would just think of it as entertainment." Yet, she added, "to be judged and have so many misconceptions based on a character that I had invented myself was frustrating."
Still, she has no regrets. "I built a huge brand off doing it" she told People. "So I don't really regret it and I'm happy that people are going to finally see this film."
Though reluctant to sign on for the doc at first ("because I wasn't ready to show myself," Paris said, according to The Associated Press), she eventually did and even relinquished creative control as Emmy-winning director Alexandra Dean and a crew followed her around the world for a year. "I talk about things that are very hard to talk about," Paris said, per AP. "Watching the film for the first time, I was like, 'Can we cut that out?' I was freaking out but they have total control over the whole film."
The project — which also features interviews with the star's sister, Nicky Hilton Rothschild, and mother, Kathy Hilton — is believed to be full of fresh revelations about Paris, who speaks about a "heartbreaking trauma" in the film as well as the time she spent at a residential treatment center for emotionally and behaviorally troubled youth in Utah and more.