House of Hilton - Part 1
Trashy Book Review and Vintage RHOBH Tea
Let’s read a trashy & juicy book that has been rotting on my tbr for years; House of Hilton by Jerry Oppenheimer.
Zip up your Juicy Couture because this is a chilly expose on the Hiltons written in 2006 at peak Paris mania and right off of the flop that was Kathy Hilton’s reality tv show, I Want to be a Hilton. We are getting the Hilton origin story from the formative years that created our beloved Hilton sisters and Richard sisters (yes, plenty of Kim, Kyle and Kathy content too). You can count on Oppenheimer, to bring all the rumors and trash as long as someone’s hairdresser’s cousin confirmed it.
Prologue
We open with Paris and her now-notorious origin story: the tape. That one unfortunate night with an older ex, a camcorder, and allegedly, some serious pharmaceuticals (her own memoir names Quaaludes). It's deeply uncomfortable in hindsight—her brain wasn’t done developing.
But who’s laughing now? Certainly not Rick Salomon. (Fine—he's apparently sober now and weirdly successful at poker.) Paris was one, if not the very first celebrity, to parlay the lamest sex tape into; a book, a club chain (club Paris anyone), tv shows, and endless marketing. Paris became so famous in the early aughts, her fame actually boosted the Hilton Hotel revenue. That’s right, Hilton Hotel, and lest you think this “heiress” didn’t need to work at all, well you’re wrong. The Hilton family fortune had mostly gone to charity (bless), and Grandma Hilton left a modest $60 million to be split among eight kids. One of them was Rick Hilton—Paris’s dad—and husband to the one and only Kathy Hilton of RHOBH fame. Already lost? Same. Thankfully, Jerry O includes a very necessary family tree at the start.
Personally, I prefer the UsefulCharts version on Reddit.
Chapter 1 - Maternal Roots
Because it’s always the mom’s fault? Am I Right? If this book is to believed, Big Kathy (maternal grandma) and Kathy (mama) created the party girl (or misunderstood) that is Paris (in 2006). Or you know, maybe it’s just Paris’s genes and choices, because Nicky Hilton, sister of grace and poise, managed her younger years just fine with presumably the same parental cocktail.
From the day her first child was born, Kathy Hilton referred to Paris as “Star.” And this is why I write down every word Kathy says on RHOBH, she’s a psychic. At 22, Kathy picked socializing over swaddling. She and the family spent a lot of time bouncing around parties in Florida, Las Vegas, Palm Springs and New Jersey (!!) at their namesake hotels. Rumor has it that Kathy left baby Paris in Hilton Hotels with cleaning and other staff for days on end so she could live her best life. No one is asking what Rick was up to in this clearly sexist book, but presumably running his real estate business and also not watching a child. According to the hotel staff , Kathy and Rick were known for being superior and rude and taught their daughters to behave the same.
Hotel Staff - “When Paris was about 12, she had pet ferrets that she carried in Prada Purse” The kind of quote I live for.
While mostly based in Bel Air, the Hilton’s made a decision when Paris finished middle school to relocate to NYC (to live at the Waldorf, duh). The author describes this as Kathy’s need to get the girls closer to the social scene in NYC. I am sure it had absolutely nothing to do with Rick’s growing business. Once in New York, Paris bounced around several schools and got into every club despite not even being 16, she basically coined what we now know as unschooling.
And then she….vanished. Poof.
Now at the time this book was written, 2006, no-one knew about Paris's kidnapping by a wilderness school and traumatic experience (please watch her youtube doc, it’s a complete tragedy).
What we get in House of Hilton are several takes:
1.) The Waldorf staff claim Paris ran off to have a fling with a trucker (an 18 wheeler) and a cross-country joyride. Comedy gold, I recognize a loyal staff when I see one.
2.) Kathy did an interview for legendary Vanity Fair and chose to straight up lie, stating Paris had a stalker and relocated to London to be homeschooled (or outschooled, we’re talking about Paris)
3.) The author, through his own research, pieced together something more reflective of the truth. That Paris went to spend time with grandma in Palm Springs (Big Kathy) and time at a school in Utah (read: the now infamous wilderness school but it isn’t described as such in the book). In a throwaway sentence, the author also mentions that Paris was diagnosed with ADD. Today, Paris has shared all of this in her own documentaries and memoirs and we know the trauma of these events shaped much of who she became.
The author wants you to know that during Paris’s ‘disappearance’ Kathy and Rick took a very extended cruise on a friend’s luxury yacht, freedom from their wild child. No mention of the other 3 children that exist at this point. Who is watching them? TBD.
Living with Big Kathy did not slow Paris down, she just reigned terror on a new zip code. Big Kathy adored Paris and set forth to support in making her a star in anyway possible. She blamed her own daughter for all of Paris’s problems and said that Baby Kathy never paid attention to her girls until they were famous.
Chapter 2 - Materialistic Diva
So how did one party girl birth and raise another party girl? Turns out, it’s hereditary. Chapter 2 dives into the chaotic life that is Kathleen Dugan Avanzino Richards Catain Fenton aka I love it when you call me Big Kathy. Big Kathy is mother to Kathy Hilton, Kyle Richards, and Kim Richards - aka the reason Real Housewives of Beverly Hills exists.
Big Kathy was a “materialistic diva” on a mission; marry up and raise her three daughters to be stars and marry rich. Her mantra in her mirror at night - “marry rich and have lots of babies.” According to sources for the book, Big Kathy’s parenting was often compared to Jim Jones and Jolie Gabor (mother to Zsa Zsa, reference family tree above for her Hilton connection).
Well, mantras work. The childhood star part worked out brilliantly for Kim and Kyle. And although Kathy’s career didn’t get the same heat she really won the Marry Rich part of the mantra. They all did. Kim Richard’s 2nd husband was a literal billionaire (this book incorrectly clocks him as her first), Kyle’s 1st husband was a son of a wealthy something or other and then she married, Mauricio, a well-off agent. But of course Kathy did it best by marrying into the Hiltons. Do you think she knew at the time that Rick wasn’t coming into any huge inheritance?
What we garner about Baby K in this chapter is that her mom was mean and pushed her to do great things with her life beyond a textbook. Those things usually included men and social scenes. Kathy, (like mother, like daughter) was interested in parties, hated school and was a charming flirt. Still is.
Fun Fact, Kathy Hilton and Michael Jackson were best friends until he passed away.
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I need this book!