Paris Whitney Hilton's destiny among the stars seemed to be charted out for her since birth. She was born on February 17, 1981 in New York City to American real estate magnates Richard and Kathy Hilton, making her the heir-apparent to the billions of dollars in real estate and various enterprises her family owned.
Her parents nicknamed her Star and Princess, monikers fit for a wealthy girl as well as to the multi-million yachts she is accustomed to cruise on. Among the luxuries she enjoyed aside from palatial homes and global partying was a stint at the über exclusive Dwight School where she earned her General Education Development certificate in High School.
As a high-profile party girl, Paris became tabloid and TV fare. She invested huge amount of money to “market” herself well in Hollywood. These include several surgical makeovers despite her already natural good looks. Paris engaged in several feuds with other celebrities, but it was in 2004 when she reached the peak of scandal with the release of a video with her then boyfriend Rick Solomon published on the Internet and commercially marketed as a video titled 1 Night With Paris.
It was said that the whole “show” was schemed by Paris herself. Devastated or not, it surely got the people's attention and sealed a good rating for her TV show, The Simple Life.
Soon, Paris also began to do modeling works for various print and TV campaigns. She also landed film roles in movies like Zoolander in 2001, Wonderland and The Cat in the Hat in 2003 and House of Wax in 2005.
Paris' notoriety seemed to toned down after her stint at a detention facility in California for violating her probation at an earlier DUI charge. She went in on June 5, 2007 and was released on June 26, 2007.
The heiress clearly maximized her money and connections to succeed in profitable ventures of her own, including founding a record company Heiress Records, publishing a New York Times bestseller book Confessions of an Heiress, collaborating with Parlux Fragrances for her own perfume line and in manufacturing and distributing of her own Paris-labeled hair extensions, clothes, footwear and fashion blings.
