Paris Hilton describes ‘traumatising’ abuse in Utah boarding school as she calls for oversight of youth treatment centres

Paris Hilton wipes her eyes after speaking at a committee hearing at the Utah State Capitol

Credit: Rick Bowmer /AP

Paris Hilton said she was put in solitary confinement naked, forced to take unidentified pills and subjected to beatings at a boarding school in Utah as she testified in support of legislation that would require more oversight of youth residential treatment centres.

The heiress, 39, broke down in tears as she addressed a Utah state senate committee and detailed her own "traumatising" experiences at the private Provo Canyon School, where she said she endured years of abuse as a teenager.

Hilton first made the claims of abuse in a documentary, "This is Paris", which was released on YouTube in September.

Since then other celebrities’ offspring, including Michael Jackson’s daughter Paris, have spoken publicly about their experiences at similar institutions.

"For the past 20 years, I have had a recurring nightmare where I’m kidnapped in the middle of the night by two strangers, strip-searched, and locked in a facility. I wish I could tell you that this haunting nightmare was just a dream, but it is not," she told the committee on Monday.

Paris Hilton first made the claims in a YouTube documentary 

Credit: Rick Bowmer /AP

Hilton went on to allege that she was "verbally, mentally and physically abused on a daily basis" at Provo Canyon School, adding: "I was cut off from the outside world and stripped of all my human rights."

Hilton, the great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton, the founder of Hilton Hotels, was sent to the boarding school by her parents in an attempt to curb her partying as  a teenager.

The socialite addressed the Utah state senate on Monday as lawmakers considered legislation regulating the "troubled teen industry".

A number of facilities in the state describe themselves as "therapeutic boarding schools" for troubled teenagers, but there is limited regulation of the industry.

Hilton described her own experience as she spoke in favour of a bill that would require more oversight of such centers and require them to document when they use restraints.

"Without a diagnosis, I was forced to consume medication that made me feel numb and exhausted. I didn’t breathe fresh air or see the sunlight for 11 months. There was zero privacy — every time I would use the bathroom or take a shower — it was monitored," she claimed.

"At 16 years old — as a child — I felt their piercing eyes staring at my naked body. I was just a kid and felt violated every single day."

Hilton said other boarders at Provo Canyon School were "restrained, thrown into walls, strangled, and sexually abused regularly".

One staff member, she claimed, would "brag to other students that she was the one that broke Paris Hilton".

She added that her experience was "proof that money doesn’t protect against abuse".

Hilton told the committee that she was "terrified" of laying bare her own story, but said she could not remain silent "knowing that there are children that are experiencing the same abuse that I and so many others went through".

Provo Canyon School came under new ownership in 2000 and has said it cannot comment on anything that may have occurred before then.