Paris & Nicky HiltonI well remember the first time The Hilton Sisters entered my consciousness, somewhere near the end of the '90s. I was working in the photo department at a Conde Nast magazine, and a co-worker very gleefully pointed to a shot of the hard partying, seemingly mid-puberty Paris and Nicky in the nightlife pages of a Conde publication. This, my colleague noted, was the future, train-wreck heiresses to the Hilton fortune.

They did seem a little young to be drunkenly dancing on tables (and photographed for doing it), but at that time in my life, I was relatively young and reckless too. So, I’ll admit it -- I found guilty pleasure in following their exploits in the fast-moving, fun-loving world of celebrity indulgence.  

My fascination never fully disappeared, and as cheesy and sleazy as the girls dared to go, I followed with delight. That is, until I had kids of my own.

The sex tape Paris made in 2004 with Rick Salomon, 1 Night in Paris, was released just weeks after my first daughter was born. Then, soon after my second daughter was born in 2006, Paris received her first drunk-driving arrest. I couldn’t help but look at my two little daughters and think, for the first time, with concern about the Hiltons.

My little girls are blonde and, sometimes, when they are acting bratty, I like to refer to them as Paris and Nicky. They have no idea what I’m talking about, but it still gives me a secret smile.

Maybe it’s because of this that Paris’s latest arrest for possession of a controlled substance elicits from me no joy whatsoever. The more infamous Hilton was caught in Las Vegas last week with a bit of cocaine in her purse, and it turns out, this is the third time in just one month that she’s been questioned about drug possession. I’m feeling a bit uneasy about all of this. After all, Paris is still someone’s bratty kid (albeit someone a bit off the handle herself).

I don’t want Paris to go back to jail. I want her to zoom around on her jet-ski with the richest, most ridiculous of the world’s offspring. I want her to say bonehead things and wear shocking outfits, but all in the name of fun. I wonder if this is how my mom felt about Drew Barrymore?  

Do you look at young Hollywood and worry about them more now that you have kids?

 


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