Paris Hilton: 'They took millions of dollars of jewellery'

Paris Hilton explains to John Hiscock how the real-life Bling Ring managed to steal so many of her possessions without her knowing.

The teenage burglars of The Bling Ring took millions of dollars of Paris Hilton's jewellery 

A lot of people, myself included, wondered how Paris Hilton's house was broken into and robbed SIX times by the teenage burglars of The Bling Ring before she noticed anything was wrong. I got a chance to ask her when we talked in a West Hollywood office the other day and she had what seemed like a semi-plausible explanation. She travels a lot, she said, and her staff makes sure the house is neat, tidy and in perfect condition when she returns.

"I didn't notice until the last time because that's when they did the big hit and took millions of dollars of jewellery," she said.“Before that they were just taking little things from everywhere so I didn’t notice. But the final time they wanted to get as much as they could.”

The 32-year-old socialite-entrepreneur has a cameo role playing herself in The Bling Ring, Sofia Coppola’s film of the crimes and also loaned her house for the filming. For the cast and filmmakers, the house, stocked full of clothes, jewellery and ornaments, was something of a wonder.

Emma Watson, who stars as the leader of the Bling Ring, commented later: "It's almost like consumerism as a form of kleptomania. She could never wear all of those clothes and half of them were brand new and still had the price tag on. But I suppose she just bought them to have them. We've all bought things on impulse but that's an entirely different thing."
But Paris, who says she has "probably a couple of hundred pairs of shoes," had an explanation: "Well, I'm a designer and I have 17 product lines so a lot of the things in my house are my products – my handbag line, my sunglasses, my shoes..."
Paris Hilton is happy to talk about how she has rebuilt her life and changed her image from that of a dizzy blonde to a hard-driving businesswoman. Instead of a night-clubbing, party-going, spoiled rich girl whose dazzling wardrobe and well-planned photo ops made her a celebrity in her own right, she is now someone who controls a multi-national business and when not working, spends her evenings at home.
“I’ve grown up and now I’m mature,” she says. “In my twenties I was just getting to know myself and now I feel I finally know who I am.
“I’m staying out of trouble and staying away from negative people. I don’t go out that much anymore unless it’s for work, so I’m happy to be a businesswoman and focus on more important things. I don’t hang out with a lot of the people I used to see because I’m so busy with my work I just don’t have time for any of that.”
The blonde singer-actress-television star and celebrity is now a confident entrepreneur who has built an impressive empire: she has 44 stores around the world, is about to launch her 16th fragrance line and is planning a chain of Paris Hilton Beach Clubs, the first of which is due to open in the Philippines early next year.
“One of the biggest misconceptions about me is that because I have the last name Hilton, people assume that everything was just handed to me and I’ve never worked a day in my life,” she says. “But really it’s the complete opposite. I’ve worked very hard and done this all on my own. I’m the exact opposite of what people think I am.”