Paris Hilton has spoken candidly about the impact a leaked sex tape had on her relationship with intimacy, including the misogynistic nickname she says she was branded with after it emerged in 2004.
After becoming a huge name in the early 2000s thanks to her on-screen partnership with Nicole Richie in The Simple Life, Hilton found herself under constant tabloid scrutiny. Her party-heavy image, tiny dogs and fashion moments helped define a certain era — but the attention often came with a harsh edge.
In 2004, that media fixation intensified when a private video involving Hilton and her former boyfriend Rick Salomon — who was 35 at the time — was allegedly released without her consent, sparking widespread headlines and public commentary.
Hilton later said she had been “out of it” when the tape, titled 1 Night In Paris, was recorded — a statement Salomon subsequently sued her over.
She responded by countersuing Salomon regarding the tape’s initial release, with reports indicating she received roughly $400,000 in damages.
Speaking about that period on an episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast last year, the 45-year-old described how difficult it was for her to feel comfortable with sex in the years after the tape became public.
“I played into the character,” she confessed to host Alex Cooper about her 2000s party-girl persona.
She then explained the personal consequences she felt away from the cameras: “It just made me scared about anything that had to do with sex. Like after that I was so closed off.
“I didn’t want to hook up with anyone because I was just nervous.
“Like I would date people, but I would only kiss them because I would just be nervous to do anything else.”
Hilton said the disconnect was stark, especially as she believed the public largely viewed her as a “sex symbol,” while she felt the opposite privately.
She also claimed that perception led to an unkind label following her decision to keep physical boundaries in her dating life: the nickname “Miss Blue Baller.”
She explained: “That’s what people would call me because I wouldn’t do anything but then in the public people assumed something else.”
Many supporters responded by praising her openness and criticising the way women in the spotlight were treated at the time. One wrote: “I hate the way female celebrities were treated by the media in the 2000s. So happy to see Paris thriving.”
Another added: “I saw Paris’ documentary a few years ago and my perception about her changed completely.
“She is not only a very beautiful woman, but she is smart, funny, kind and very inspiring.”