Socialite Paris Hilton is well known for being one of Hollywood’s party girls and an early 2000s reality television star, but only now are most of her fans meeting the real woman behind the baby pop voice tag that made “that’s hot” the ultimate catchphrase of the early millennium.
The millionaire heiress, whose family is behind the Hilton hotel chain, is in a new era of her career, now using her public status to advocate for child welfare and the passing of the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act.
The legislation, if successfully supported by lawmakers, would establish an agency to ensure the well-being of youth placed in residential programs. Hilton has spoken about her own horrific experiences of being sexually abused and forcefully medicated after her parents sent her to boarding school at 16 years old.
In her June 26 congressional testimony given before the Ways and Means Committee, she ditched her persona and stepped into boss mode as she shared more of her harrowing memories of institutionalized abuse. To the shock of many, she sounded nothing like the popular culture icon that so many have known for more than two decades.
At first, her voice was the typical valley girl sound of drawing out certain vowels and in a higher register as she complimented a Congress member’s sparkly jacket. But when she dove into serious matters, there was a complete change in her voice. It appeared deeper and no longer playful.
After Hilton’s smile dropped and she began to read her speech, she sternly said, “But the most important thing is we need access to therapy, counseling, mentorship, and other community-based programs,” leaving online onlookers floored at the split-second change. “The voice change is insane,” read a tweet sharing a clip of her testimony.
The voice change is insane 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/6clX9i5yDq
— The Scarlet Mitch (@MitchellLWell) June 27, 2024
“It’s a classic code switch, Black people do it all the time,” read another reaction. Someone else tweeted, “Paris Hilton said in her documentary that her role is a character..and that she can’t ever get rid of it, because it would be a very expensive divorce,” noting that the businesswoman’s true voice is prevalent in “This Is Paris.”
She previously described the baby voice as being part of the dumb blonde act and that it served as a mask of sorts to overcome her shy nature. The heiress told “This Morning” in March 2023, “I am not a dumb blonde, people. I am just good at playing it. After the ‘Good Life,’ I got stuck in playing that role,” she explained, switching between the two voices.
Still, her congressional testimony has countless other sharing sentiments, like “That video of Paris Hilton changing her voice really had me GAGGED.” Another fan took a playful approach with their reaction when they wrote, “Paris Hilton said, ‘I got my customer service voice and my get s—t done voice.’”
Last year, the O.G. influencer penned “Paris: The Memoir,” where she wrote in detail about Provo Canyon School in Utah, where she endured her alleged teenage abuse. The controversial institution was the subject of the Netflix documentary “Hell Camp: Teen Nightmare.” Despite past students and employees speaking out about the mistreatment, the school remains open.
