Paris Hilton tells the US Congress that as a teenager she was “force-fed drugs and sexually abused by staff” in a home

Hotel heiress and reality TV star Paris Hilton spoke to the US Congressional Budget Committee about her experiences with institutional child abuse.

“When I was 16 years old, I was ripped from my bed in the middle of the night and taken across state lines to the first of four residential treatment facilities for juveniles,” the 43-year-old said.

“These programs promised healing, growth and support, but they didn’t allow me to speak, move freely or even look out the window for two years.

“The staff forcibly administered medication to me and sexually abused me.

“My parents were completely deceived, lied to and manipulated by this profit-driven industry about the inhumane treatment I experienced.”

Hilton is a vocal advocate

Ms. Hilton has previously spoken about the emotional and physical abuse she suffered in youth institutions, including in the 2020 YouTube documentary “This is Paris” and in her 2023 memoir “Paris: The Memoir,” as her parents sought ways to deal with her rebellious behavior.

She acknowledged to Congress that she had no experience in the foster care system, but said she knew from personal experience that children were being put in danger.

“Today, more than 50,000 foster children and an unknown number of adopted children continue to be placed in residential institutions in closed settings,” she said.

“Innocent children who have committed no crimes, children whose parents did not have the means to support them, children whose parents have died, children who have already experienced trauma.”

She said the $US23 billion ($34.6 billion) industry operates without significant oversight.

Ms Hilton cited examples of children abused in foster homes, such as 16-year-old Cornelius Fredericks, who died in a Michigan center in 2020 after being physically restrained for 12 minutes as punishment for throwing food.

“Why can’t we as a society recognize that these children are suffering?” she asked the committee.

“They need love and kindness, not beatings and shackles.”

“As a mother, these stories break my heart,” added the mother of two.

Mrs Hilton, the great-granddaughter of Hilton Hotel founder Conrad Hilton, had previously called for the closure of the Provo Canyon School boarding school in Utah that she attended, describing it as “the worst of the worst”.

The heiress rose to fame in the early 2000s as a socialite and co-star of the reality TV series “The Simple Life” alongside her friend Nicole Ritchie, the adopted daughter of Lionel Richie.

In recent years she has been a singer, DJ, podcaster, influencer and entrepreneur.

This is also not the first time she has advocated for child safety in Washington, DC.