Paris Hilton speaks to 60 Minutes about her ordeal in the ‘troubled teen’ industry

Paris Hilton has spoken out about a “traumatic” ordeal she endured as a teenager, saying she didn’t think it could even “be real” at the time.

On Sunday night’s edition of 60 Minutes, Paris Hilton hit out against a $50 billion dollar industry of therapeutic boarding schools and military-style boot camps in the United States that claim “tough love” is the best way to cure young people’s problems.

The DJ and socialite has recently become the face of a movement against the “troubled teen” industry.

Each year thousands of children and teenagers are sent to these facilities from all around the world – including Australia. These often-secretive institutions are largely unregulated, and for some have allegedly caused serious and lasting harm.

Hilton is one of many who claim they were essentially imprisoned within therapeutic residential care, and who’ve spoken about suffering emotional, physical and in some cases alleged sexual abuse.

At just 16, Paris claims she became a prisoner in a full lockdown style facility where she was held against her will and abused.

“Two men came into my room at 4.30 in the morning, holding up handcuffs and said, ‘Do you want to go the easy way or the hard way?’ And I had no idea who they were. I thought I was being kidnapped,” Paris Hilton recalled.

“I had no idea what they were going to do to me. I didn’t know if they were going to kill me if they were going to do something else. I was like, this has to be a nightmare. This cannot be real.

“And I had no idea where they were taking me. It was terrifying and traumatic. I was screaming.”

“Sometimes they would lock children up in the solitary confinement room,” she added.

“At some of these places they will tie children up with zip ties, they will put children into dog cages.

“During my time at these places, I was strangled, hit.

“Every time I would take a shower, use the bathroom, there’d be male and female staff watching.

“I didn’t see sunlight or breathe fresh air for 11 months. They took away all my human rights.”

Stream more entertainment news live & on demand with Flash. 25+ news channels in 1 place. New to Flash? Try 1 month free. Offer available for a limited time only >

Some of the facilities ended up leaving teens traumatised, Paris claims. Picture: Channel 9

She also spoke about alleged sexual abuse.

“Late at night, sometimes they would come in and take us and do cervical exams, like every couple weeks, which as an adult now I’m realising that they were actually sexually abusing us, because none of them were even trained doctors.”

The alleged abuse still haunts her.

“It’s strange to think this was over 20 years ago and it still majorly affects me every single day. I have nightmares almost every single night.”

Kidnapped on her parents orders and sent to a secretive institution. TONIGHT on #60Mins, celebrity "it girl" @ParisHilton is fighting back against the multi-billion dollar industry that claims to help troubled teens but often causes more harm than good. pic.twitter.com/ncYMOhqEsA

— 60 Minutes Australia (@60Mins) November 12, 2022

An Australian woman named Emily who was also sent to one of the schools featured on the 60 Minutes segment as well.

Now 25, Emily was living in Sydney and just 15 years old when she was sent halfway across the world. Her grades had slipped and her parents had gotten divorced.

Her first stop was a wilderness facility in Utah where she stayed for 10 weeks, and then she was moved to her final destination, a school called Monarch in remote Montana which she described as a kind of hell on earth.

Emily had a similar story to Paris about how her journey began.

“At around three in the morning two strangers switched on my bedside lamp and … that’s when I was presented with the options, the easy way or the hard way,” she said.

“And I asked what the easy way was and they said, you know, ‘We walk out the door and get on the plane together.’”

Emily talked to 60 Minutes. Picture: Channel 9

Emily said her time at the school was terrible.

“If you even looked at someone the wrong way, you were forced to dig up tree stumps,” she claimed.

“Food was taken away, and you weren’t allowed to talk to a single other person for months at a time.”

Even worse was the aggressive group counselling known as Attack Therapy, which essentially pit child against child to re-enact the traumas of their peers.

“It was a snowball effect, so one kid would start yelling at another kid, and more kids would join in, and these were torture for me, to have a group of 15 of your peers yelling at you, and what would make matters worse was this rile-up gang mentality would go farther than the walls of that room.

“This was encouraged by the school.”

She said she walked away from the school feeling bad about herself.

“I will always have in the back of my mind, am I the problem?” Emily said. “Am I still a bad kid? Am I inherently evil?”

Emily said her time at the school was a nightmare. Picture: Channel 9

However, there are some who support therapeutic retreats, such as Andy Goldstrom, who has started a podcast and support group to guide parents through the process.

“I think you have to put the entire story in perspective,” he said.

“Paris Hilton has been the largest voice in this and gotten the most attention because of her celebrity.

“She came from a home where she was used to being spoiled and her parents tried to rein her in. She was sent for some discipline. She did not like the discipline.”

Goldstrom said the treatment of his own daughter, Audrey, at a residential retreat convinced him the industry does more good than harm.

At 17, Audrey’s learning difficulties had led to anxiety and depression and bad choices, giving

Goldstrom no choice, he said, but to send her away, by escort, in the middle of the night.

“She did not know what was coming. Making a decision to have your kid taken away from you in the middle of the night is a big deal, but we were at a very desperate point and we feared for her safety and ours,” he said.

“It was done very professionally … this was not some kind of fly-by-night thing. These were experts.”

Audrey was also sent to one of the schools. Picture: Channel 9

He continued: “What bothers me is saying that the industry as a whole does not work just because of a few stories that have translated into the entire industry being bad. That’s what I object to. The programs are continuing to raise the bar.”

When told a story of alleged abuse by 60 Minutes, he responded: “All right. This is not the conversation I was expecting to have. I’m just a parent who’s trying to help my kids, trying to help the industry. I’m not on trial here.”

Caroline Cole runs the survivor support group Unsilenced and, like Hilton, is pushing for greater regulation of the industry and a bill of rights for young people in care.

When asked if the troubled teen industry has cleaned up its act, she said: “Not at all. I mean we have reports of horrific abuse still coming out of these facilities as of a week ago. As of yesterday.”