April 6, 2011
"I'm the Original," Says Paris Hilton, Promoting Her New Line of Shoes
Robert Doyle READ TIME: 2 MIN.
MEXICO CITY (AP) - Paris Hilton, the woman who perfected the art of being famous for being famous, says she has met all of her professional goals.
The heiress-turned-TV star, who was in Mexico to promote a new line of shoes, says she doesn't fear being overshadowed by Kim Kardashian or any other reality show rival with her own fragrance, B-movies, sex tape and autobiography, all by age 30.
"There's so many people out there who try to imitate what I do but I am the original," Hilton said in an interview with The Associated Press. "There is nothing like me."
The socialite, who started her career as a model and has tried her hand in movies, fashion and singing, is currently shooting her latest reality TV show, "The World According to Paris," which will debut this spring on the Oxygen cable channel.
"The show's everything about my life, showing the business woman", Hilton said.
Before the media reported on Kardashian's every move, Hilton was the favorite celebutante of the tabloids, which covered every party she went to, every man she dated and every brush she had with the law.
Hilton angrily dismissed questions about whether her life is superficial.
"I thought we were talking about the shoes," she said.
Her shoe collection is the latest addition to a lucrative empire that lends her name to 17 lines of products from handbags and fragrances to clothing.
"I have done everything that I wanted to do and I feel very blessed that I have been very successful on every area," Hilton, wearing a long beige, sleeveless dress in her Mexico City hotel suite.
"So it's very exciting. There is nothing else to do," she said as her aides occasionally touched up her hair and makeup.
"I think that I have the best style and I know fashion," she added. "The girls all love my style. When they buy my products they can be like me."
Her sense of fulfillment doesn't mean she's about to retire. Hilton said she hopes the next phase of her business career will be in real estate, with her own chain of hotels, restaurants and nightclubs, a fitting path for the hotel heiress.
At a news conference in Mexico City later, she matched a ruffled blouse and dramatic oversized sun hat with a pair of Champaign heels, one of her new creations. Some of the other pairs lined a table next to her.
Organizers initially refused to translate when a reporter asked if she had demanded the Swarovski crystal water bottle at her side. But when journalists pressed for an answer, Hilton quickly said she would be happy to reply.
"I didn't order the water, I think someone sent it as a present," she said. "I'm not a diva, I am not like that. I can drink water out of any bottle."
Long-term New Yorkers, Mark and Robert have also lived in San Francisco, Boston, Provincetown, D.C., Miami Beach and the south of France. The recipient of fellowships at MacDowell, Yaddo, and Blue Mountain Center, Mark is a PhD in American history and literature, as well as the author of the novels Wolfchild and My Hawaiian Penthouse. Robert is the producer of the documentary We Are All Children of God. Their work has appeared in numerous publications, as well as at : www.mrny.com.