"Sexually abused" Paris Hilton testifies before US Congress against boarding schools
Paris Hilton stands up for the protection of minors in front of the US Congress. As a teenager, she was mentally and physically abused in a home for difficult-to-educate children - the school denies the allegations.
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- Based on her own experiences, Paris Hilton testifies before the US Congress against youth boarding schools.
- She was abused there as a 16-year-old. The schools mislead the parents and completely isolate the children from the outside world.
- The 42-year-old now wants these institutions to be monitored more closely.
The US IT girl Paris Hilton wants to promote child protection programs and push through reforms that will allow boarding schools to be better monitored.
She talks about her own experiences when she was still a 16-year-old teenager: "When I was placed in such an institution, I was forced to take medication. I was also sexually abused by the caregivers."
At the hearing on Wednesday, June 26, the 42-year-old recounted her experiences. She was "forcibly grabbed and dragged along corridors" and "stripped naked and thrown into solitary confinement".
"The children are not believed"
This whole experience was an "abduction approved by her parents". She attended four different boarding schools because her parents were looking for a solution to her rebellious behavior: "They fell for the misleading marketing of institutions for difficult-to-educate young people."
This " tough love " that these boarding schools advertise is nothing less than abusive. This 50-billion-dollar industry has military training camps, youth prisons and "behavior-modifying programs."
Hilton openly said that the experience was not only isolating for her, but also extremely traumatic. She was not even able to inform her parents as phone calls had been tapped: "It's very difficult to contact anyone in the outside world. Many of these children are simply not believed. The institutions pretend to the parents that their child is lying and manipulative, simply because they want to go home," the reality star said.
Parents are being hoodwinked
Provo Canyon School, one of the schools where Hilton was abused, has responded to the allegations and has not accepted any blame in a statement: "We were under different management at the time and therefore cannot comment on the circumstances and experiences of certain students," writes the British Guardian. The school's statement went on to say: "We provide a structured environment, teach in the life school, provide therapy for healthy social behavior. We educate young people who come to us with complex emotional, behavioral or mental health issues."
Hilton countered with her own experience: "These programs promised healing, growth, support, instead they forbade me to speak, move freely or even look out the window - for over two years." Her parents were completely misled about the therapeutic treatment in these schools.
