Paris Hilton has shared that the leak of her 2004 sex tape by ex-boyfriend Rick Salomon left her with long-term trauma and PTSD. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Hilton said the tape, which was released without Hilton’s consent and caused a media sensation, was “humiliating†and is “something that will hurt me for the rest of my life.†She continued: “It’s always there in the back of my mind. When it happened, people were so mean about it to me. The way that I was spoken about on nightly talk shows and the media, to see things with my family was just heartbreaking. I would be in tears every single day, I didn’t want to leave my house, I felt like my life was over.â€
Hilton went on to explain, “It was a private experience between two people. You love someone, you trust someone and to have your trust betrayed like that and for the whole world to be watching and laughing … It was even more hurtful to me to have these people think that I did this on purpose — that killed me.†She added, “It still gives me post-traumatic stress disorder to talk about it.†Following the leak of the tape in 2004, Hilton publicly stated that she did not approve of the tape’s release. Salomon subsequently sued Hilton for defamation, with Hilton then countersuing Salomon for the release of the tape. They settled out of court in 2005.