Paris Hilton fires back at nepo baby claims: 'I haven't gotten anything since I was 18'

Paris Hilton wants everyone to know she’s no mere 'nepo baby' - she built her empire the hard way.

The entrepreneur and mom of two, 44, insists her billion-dollar business in fashion, beauty, and entertainment is entirely self-made, despite her family’s famous name. 

While her parents Rick and Kathy Hilton are well-known in Hollywood circles, Hilton says her fortune was built on hustle, not inheritance. 

The famous hotel chain that bears her last name was sold to Blackstone in 2007 and has long been publicly traded. 

When her grandfather Barron Hilton passed in 2019, he left 97 percent of his fortune to charity, not his heirs  

‘I haven’t gotten anything since I was 18,’ she told USWeekly on Wednesday.

She added, ‘I’ve been working since I was 16. I did everything on my own.’ 

Asked how much support she plans to give her own children, the star - who, with her entrepreneur husband of four years, Carter Reum, 44, is parent to son Phoenix, 3, and daughter London, 2, both born via surrogate - explained her philosophy.

'If you spoil your children, you will destroy them. That’s something my husband and I talk about,’ she said. 

‘We want to give them the most beautiful life and make them happy, but we also want to instill a work ethic.’

When asked if money equals happiness, Paris said, ‘It does because I’ve worked so hard, and success has always been a driving force for me. 

[After] going to those (boarding) schools, I made a promise that I was going to become so successful that no one could ever tell me what to do again. So I really see it as freedom.’

She added, ‘I’m very privileged [to have come] from a family where I’ve been able to learn so much from such incredible businessmen and women. 

'But I’ve seen a lot of people who come from prestigious families, and… they’ve never worked a day in their life, and I’ve seen how unhappy they are. They have no fulfillment in life because they’re just handed everything.’

Paris also addressed misconceptions about herself: ‘I feel like I’ve cleared up so many. [People] thought I was a dumb blonde because of The Simple Life, but I’ve proved that I’m not - I’m just very good at pretending to be one.’

This isn’t the first time Paris has opened up about her self-made status.

She made the bold claim in a Sunday Times interview published in November. 

'I'm self-made. Like, I've done this all on my own,' she declared, referring to her $1B 11:11 Media company. 

'No one's ever given me anything in my entire life,' she added.

Fans were quick to push back online. 

One Reddit user wrote, 'You had a perfume called "Heiress." [Girl], be fr.' 

Another pointed out, 'If you weren't a Hilton then you wouldn't be as big as you are. Yes, you made a name for yourself but it's because you came from wealth and a household name.'

Paris also reflected on her relationship with her late grandfather in the profile. 

'We were extremely close and we would always have lunches and dinners, and he would always say to me, "Paris, you work harder than any CEO I know,"' she said. 

'And he's, like, "I used to be known as Barron Hilton but now I'm known as Paris Hilton's grandpa." We would always laugh about it.'

The socialite first became a household name in the early 2000s with the reality show The Simple Life, starring alongside BFF and fellow nepo baby Nicole Richie. 

She parlayed that fame into a business empire with clothing, fragrances, and merchandise.

Since then, she’s grown her following into the millions on social media, expanded into DJing and music, and now serves as CEO and chairwoman of 11:11 Media.

The interview comes after Paris opened up about her diagnosis of rejection sensitivity dysphoria (RSD) - a condition she has compared to having 'a demon in your mind.'

The socialite sat down with The Him & Her Show podcast and explained that she was initially diagnosed with ADHD in her late 20s before learning she had RSD.

'It's basically, like, any thought of a negative perception, if you think someone is being rude or you feel something.... You will feel it like it's physical pain and it's not even real,' she shared.

'It's kind of just this, almost like a demon in your mind that is, like, saying negative self-talk to you.'

'I've been through so many things in my life and especially in the 2000s, just everything I was going through with the media,' the socialite added.

She continued: 'I'm obsessed with learning more about it and spreading the message, because I want people to know that it doesn't have to be something that holds them back in life; it could be something that they can harness as a superpower, to really go for their dreams in life.'

Meanwhile, Hilton as a company has been thrust into controversy over protests tied to federal immigration enforcement. 

On Tuesday night, demonstrators occupied the lobby of a Hilton Garden Inn in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood to protest what they allege is the hotel chain housing federal immigration officers, with police eventually arresting dozens of protesters who refused to leave. 

The demonstrators wore shirts reading 'Hilton houses ICE' and demanded the company stop accommodating federal immigration agents, though it has not been confirmed whether agents were actually staying at the hotel.