In her upcoming documentary Infinite Icon: A Visual Memoir, Hilton candidly revisits what she describes as the biggest shock of her life—the leak of an intimate video by her former boyfriend Rick Salomon at a time when she was just beginning to rise to fame with the reality show The Simple Life. Speaking to The Sun, the 44-year-old said she was completely devastated. “It was one of the most painful experiences I’ve ever been through. I was terrified, thinking everything I had worked so hard to build was about to collapse,” she said emotionally.

Hilton explained that she had long admired and aspired to emulate elegant female icons such as Princess Diana and Grace Kelly, and believed that after the scandal, no one would ever see her in that light again. “I thought my life was over. I was afraid to show myself in public. I didn’t want to go on tour or face the world, because it felt like everyone had already judged me. It almost crushed me,” she recalled.

Despite the pain, Hilton forced herself to move forward, following her family’s advice to never speak about the incident or let it define her life. “I smiled and kept going, even though wherever I went there were whispers, and even strangers hurling cruel insults at me. The shame didn’t belong to me, but I still had to carry it,” she said.

In a recent interview with Us Weekly, when asked about confronting the sex tape scandal, Hilton added: “Trusting someone and then being violated in that way is the most horrifying thing. It’s something that has haunted me my entire life.” She also revealed that she has never spoken to Rick Salomon since, and that thinking back on the incident still causes her deep pain.

Today, Hilton is one of the highest-paid DJs in the world and enjoys a fulfilling personal life with her husband, investor Carter Reum. The couple married in 2021 and share two children: son Phoenix Barron, born in January 2023, and daughter London Marilyn, born in November 2023. “I’m so grateful I found Carter,” Hilton said of her husband. “He makes me feel like I can soar higher than ever before.”