Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie Say Past Tabloid Attention Made Them Both ‘Strong’ but It Was ‘Very, Very Traumatizing’

Hilton revealed there were “a lot of nights I’d cry and I’d call my mom” during her and Richie’s early days of fame

Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie attend New York Magazine’s Vulture Festival at NYA EAST on November 17, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Photo: Amy Sussman/Getty

Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie might have some of the thickest skin in Hollywood, but that wasn’t always the case.

The lifelong best friends, who are gearing up for the long-awaited return of The Simple Life, coming later this month, have been the subject of tabloid fodder and abuse for what likely feels like forever, and in a new interview with Glamour, they recalled how they learned from the scrutiny.

“There would be a lot of nights I’d cry and I’d call my mom,” Hilton, 43, admitted. “But it also made me so strong where, after a while, I just realized these are people who don’t even know me, they’re just making stories up.”

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Richie, 43, shared a similar sentiment as she said that the tabloids “took a heavier toll on me than I could have admitted even to myself at the moment.”

“But looking back, I can see how big of an effect it played on my daily life and my daily choices.”

Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie on ‘The Simple Life’.Sam Jones/20th Century Fox Tv/Kobal/Shutterstock

Though it was “very, very traumatizing to have to live through,” as Hilton said, Richie said that she was able to transform the criticism into “such a strong motivation for me to own my own voice and my own narrative.”

“And it makes me really proud of women that we’ve come such a long way to say, ‘That’s actually not okay.’”

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It also helps that they feel like “times have changed.”

“I think it’s just a lot more respectful and it feels a lot safer now. The ’00s were vicious to all the girls,” Hilton told the outlet.

“The media in the ’00s was so toxic. They would target a certain group of girls, Nicole and I being two of those, and it was very difficult to be a young girl and discover who you are with the whole world watching. But then also exaggerating and creating these storylines just to sell tabloids.”

Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton are seen filming an undisclosed project at SONIC Drive-In on November 20, 2024 in Duarte, California.Sara Jaye/Getty

As they reflected on how tabloid culture has changed since the early days of their fame, Hilton and Richie also shared their thoughts on why The Simple Life worked out so well in 2003 — and how different it would’ve been in 2024.

“It was such a special moment in time, before social media. You could never do a show like that today,” Hilton said. “And really, we’re the blueprint for all these other shows.”

“It’s very different from signing up for something today because you’re doing it to build your brand,” Richie added. “That model did not exist back then. So we were solely doing it because we have always chased joy and wanted to have fun.”

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Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie in “Paris & Nicole: The Encore”.Peacock

With their three-part reunion, which premieres on Peacock on Dec. 12, the duo is returning to their usual antics. But this time, they’re testing the limits in a new way by attempting to turn their iconic song, “Sanasa,” into an opera.

The idea came about as an ode to how “innovative” The Simple Life was when it first premiered, Hilton told the outlet, as they knew that “us being in the opera world” would be hilarious.

“We just wanted to do something different than all the other reunions,” she said. “It’s such a special show to celebrate, and we just wanted to do it in the most extra and extravagant way. And it’s funny because we’re going to be fish out of water in this as well.”

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All three episodes of Paris & Nicole: The Encore premiere Thursday, Dec. 12, on Peacock.