What boarding school did Paris Hilton attend? Socialite testifies about facing abuse in institutionalized care when she was a teen

Paris Hilton, 43, testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on June 26, recounting her experiences of abuse in institutionalized care as a teenager. She described it as a "parent-approved kidnapping."

Paris Hilton attended Utah's Provo Canyon School, a boarding school located in the foothills of Wasatch Mountain and claims to be an "intensive, psychiatric youth residential treatment center."

Hilton was sent to a series of residential facilities for so-called troubled teens, including the now-defunct CEDU in California, a wilderness treatment program called Ascent in Montana, and California's The Cascade School. However, she opened up in, Paris, her 2023 memoir that it was during her 11-month stint at the Utah-based facility that she experienced the brunt of the abuse.

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Paris Hilton recounts institutional abuse she experienced as a teen

In her opening remarks in the House hearing, the reality TV star shed light on her personal experiences of the "harm that is caused by being placed in youth residential treatment facilities."

Paris Hilton Testifies On Congress (Image via Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

She recounted:

"When I was 16 years old, I was ripped from my bed in the middle of the night and transported across state lines to the first of four residential facilities."

She noted that such facilities have misleading marketing of offering solutions for teenagers with rebellious behavior. Hilton continued:

"These programs promised healing, growth, and support, but instead, did not allow me to speak, move freely, or even look out a window for two years."

Instead of helping so-called troubled teens, these facilities have created negative and abusive experiences for those who were sent to them. The socialite remembered her first-hand experience at one of the facilities she was sent to in her testimony, saying:

"I was force-fed medications and sexually abused by the staff. I was violently restrained and dragged down hallways, stripped naked, and thrown into solitary confinement."

Hilton mentioned that her parents were "completely deceived, lied to, and manipulated" by these industries when it came to the inhumane treatment that youth like her were experiencing at their hands.

As a mom herself, Paris Hilton noted that such stories break her heart, which is why she decided to testify, so she can be a "voice for the children whose voices can't be heard."

The socialite had also expressed her support for the committee's effort to reauthorize Title IV-B of the Social Security Act and called on Congress to pass the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act, which should help "strengthen the oversight of residential youth programs."

Paris Hilton had previously made disturbing accusations about the boarding school she attended as a teen in her September 2020 documentary, This Is Paris, saying that she left those facilities with "insomnia, anxiety, and trust issues."