Paris Hilton visits DC to introduce bill, details abuse at 'troubled teen' facility

WASHINGTON (FOX 5 DC) - Paris Hilton is taking her own childhood experiences and using them for a purpose to advocate for reforms in the troubled teen industry.

"I'm doing everything I can in my power to fight for these children because these are children who come from families that can't help and support them and children from the juvenile justice system, foster care system. And they have no voice," Hilton said on "Fox & Friends" Thursday.

"So I'm really just turning my pain into a purpose and using my platform to help make a difference and save children's lives because hundreds of children have died in the name of treatment in these places."

In 2020, Hilton alleged she had been the victim of emotional and physical abuse as a teen attending Utah's Provo Canyon School. She says she was the victim of a "parent-approved kidnapping" when she was a misbehaving 16-year-old, with two men dragging her out of her home and into a congregate-care facility.

Hilton alleges staffers at the Canyon School beat her and forced her to sit naked in solitary confinement rooms as punishment, among other things.

"I was choked, slapped across the face, spied on while showering and deprived of sleep," she alleged. "I was called vulgar names and forced to take medication without a diagnosis. At one Utah facility, I was locked in solitary confinement in a room where the walls were covered in scratch marks and blood stains."

US media personality Paris Hilton poses for photos in Statuary Hall at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on April 27, 2023. - Hilton is at the Capitol advocating for the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act. (Photo by Stefani Reynolds / AFP) (Photo by

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The school, which changed owners in 2000, declined to comment to Fox News Digital when Hilton first revealed the alleged abuse in 2021.

"Originally opened in 1971, Provo Canyon School was sold by its previous ownership in August 2000. We therefore cannot comment on the operations or patient experience prior to this time."

The hotel heiress also testified about her experience in the documentary "This is Paris."

Since the documentary was released, other celebrities have spoken out about their experiences at the school or others like it, including Michael Jackson’s daughter Paris Jackson and tattoo artist Kat Von D.