Paris Hilton says she feels peace after Provo Canyon School closes

Paris Hilton said she feels “peace” after Provo Canyon School, the Utah boarding school where she has alleged she was abused as a teenager, closed its boys’ and girls’ campuses.

The campuses in Provo shut on July 17, Rolling Stone reported, nearly two weeks after the Utah Department of Health and Human Services revoked the school’s licenses. According to Hilton, state officials found both campuses were unsafe for the children in their care.

“This horrific chapter of abuse, neglect, and trauma has finally come to an end,” Hilton said in a statement Friday.

Hilton framed the closure as the result of a long campaign by former students who have pushed for accountability at the facility. “Today, I can finally say the words I’ve been fighting to say for years: Provo Canyon School is officially shut down,” she said.

She added that the shutdown means “no child will ever have to endure what we did at Provo Canyon School again.”

Hilton has spoken publicly about alleged abuse

Hilton first detailed her account of Provo Canyon School in the 2020 documentary This Is Paris. She said her parents sent her to the school in the mid-1990s, when she was a teenager, because they believed her partying had become too much.

In the documentary and subsequent public comments, Hilton alleged that she was beaten, put in solitary confinement for as long as 20 hours, and given pills she could not identify. She said her parents did not know what she was experiencing at the school.

Hilton made additional allegations in a 2022 New York Times video op-ed, claiming that staff members sexually abused her under the guise of medical exams. She said the incidents happened late at night and were not performed by a doctor.

That same year, the Times reported that Provo Canyon School was facing a lawsuit from 49 plaintiffs who alleged that a former medical director had sexually abused them.

A years-long public campaign

After This Is Paris, Hilton became one of the most visible critics of youth treatment facilities like Provo Canyon School. Rolling Stone reported that she and other survivors had spent years seeking accountability before the Utah shutdown.

Hilton also recalled a 2020 demonstration outside the school. She said in her Friday statement that the facility covered its windows so children inside could not see survivors protesting outside.

“They could block the children’s view of us, but they couldn’t stop what was coming,” Hilton said.

In 2021, Hilton spoke on Capitol Hill in support of a bill of rights for teenagers in such facilities. On Friday, she said she would continue pressing for child safety and accountability at youth facilities.

“If you are hurting children, know this: survivors are coming, we are not backing down, and we will not stop until all youth are safe,” Hilton said.

Hilton described the closure as a personal milestone after years of advocacy. “Provo Canyon School underestimated me,” she said. “Today, for the first time in a very long time, I feel something I never thought I would: Peace.”

This story draws on original reporting from Rolling Stone.