
Paris Hilton has given an emotional interview about her leaked sex tape, revealing she could have been like Princess Diana before his name was tarnished with its release.
The tape was recorded in 2001 with Hilton, then 19, and her ex-boyfriend Solomon, then 33, without her knowledge and subsequently released in 2003. Critics noted the suspicious timing of its release, just weeks before her show The Simple Life was set to debut, but Paris has set the record straight 14 years later and the topic still brings tears to her eyes.
Hilton insists she never made a profit from the tape, which Solomon reported earned $10 million for and her early career trajectory was blemished with the release - One Night in Paris.
"That's one thing that really pisses me off when I hear it, because I never, ever received one dollar from that video. That is the last thing that I would want out there," she told Marie Claire in a new profile.
"It's really hurtful, because my whole life I really looked up to Princess Diana, all these elegant, amazing women, and I feel like [Salomon] just took that all away from me. I could have been like that, but because of that tape, I will always be judged and thought of as whatever they say about me because of a private moment between my boyfriend and me.
"I wish I had never met him. That is actually the one regret in my life. I wish that I had never met that guy. I could not leave my house for months. I was so depressed, humiliated. I didn't want to be seen in public."
These days, Paris, who is dating The Leftovers star Chris Zylka, has built an empire to rival her family's legacy with a successful perfume line and handbag line worth $3bn.
And she credits the ditzy blonde persona to the producers of The Simple Life.
"So the producers just said, 'Act spoiled, a kind of blonde airhead.' I did that and then I realized it was a brand, so I played along with it. And when I felt shy, I would just do it."
"Now I actually think it's cuter to be intelligent and to have a normal, low, sexy voice. Now when I hear the baby voice, I want to punch myself."