Paris Hilton says she was “in the fetal position, basically in hysterics” during her first few days in jail.
Hilton tells People magazine that she was having “severe anxiety and panic attacks,” which is why the sheriff released her. But the judge sent her back.
Hilton says she prayed every day with a nun. And when she was alone, she’d pray for strength.
Hilton has promised to change her ways and do more to help people. If you don’t believe her, Hilton says it’s because you don’t know her. She says she’s a “good” and “compassionate” person with “a big heart.”
After getting out of jail Tuesday, Hilton immediately got back to being herself, summoning a hair-salon van and, by her mere presence, creating a huge traffic jam that angered the neighbors.
It appeared that Hilton’s plans to serve God in some way, perhaps by creating a halfway house for former ex-convicts like herself, would have to wait at least a day as she readjusted to the simple life of fame and celebrity.
“There’s not going to be a press conference today. I just spoke to Mr. Hilton. They have no plans to make any statement,” police Sgt. B. Anthony Roberts told reporters assembled outside the front gate of her grandparents’ estate as the newly freed heiress kept a low profile inside.
Although Hilton kept out of sight, her presence was still palpable up and down the block, from the TV satellite vans that took up so much room on the narrow street that cars couldn’t pass one another to the fast-food luncheon that was passed along to the assembled masses outside.
“Thank you. Give it to the media and the police,” a voice from inside the mansion replied.
Her transition back to celebutante started hours earlier when she was let out of jail shortly after midnight in a seedy section of Lynwood. Hilton managed to transform the event to almost the equivalent of a red-carpet arrival.
With cameras flashing, she made her so-called perp walk from jail to a waiting SUV by smiling, waving and strutting past the assembled masses in tight jeans and white stiletto heels. She ignored shouted questions, but occasionally said hi or slapped hands with sheriff’s deputies holding the photographers at bay until she reached the SUV and hugged her mother.
From there it was a quick drive to fashionable Holmby Hills, home to Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner among others, and a stop at her grandparents’ house.
As she stayed inside throughout the day, more than a dozen cars pulled up to the gate and were quickly buzzed inside, their occupants declining to talk with reporters. One of those who entered was her spokesman, Elliott Mintz, who declined to comment.
Hilton was scheduled to break her silence Wednesday night with an interview on CNN’s “Larry King Live.”
At one point Tuesday, a black Cadillac Escalade carrying balloons and a cake with the words “Welcome Home” in pink frosting arrived at her grandparents’ home. At another, a van from DreamCatchers Hair Extensions, for which Hilton is the celebrity pitchwoman, passed through the gates. DreamCatchers receptionist Crystal Armijo confirmed the heiress was having extensions added to her hair.
So what about Hilton’s words from jail, issued through various interviews and statements, about how God had given her a second chance and she was going to do something more meaningful with her life.
“Oh please!” said retired attorney Martha Karsh who was out for a morning walk with her 21-year-old daughter, Katie, when she came upon the media onslaught. Until then, she said, she never knew a Hilton lived in the neighborhood.
Traffic jam
Karsh and other early morning walkers found the scrum of paparazzi photographers and journalists amusing. As the day progressed and traffic picked up, however, people trapped in the street in their cars with horns honking all around them failed to see the humor.
“I’m trying to get my daughter to her dance class,” an angry Mindy Mann said as she called police on her cell phone.
One passing motorist took both hands off the steering wheel to make an obscene gesture to reporters. Roberts, the police sergeant, urged those gathered outside the mansion to park responsibly.
She reported to jail June 3 after walking the red carpet at the MTV Movie Awards but was sent home under house arrest four days later after Sheriff Lee Baca said she developed psychological problems while in jail. Ordered back to the slammer by her sentencing judge, she remained locked up another 2½ weeks.
As Hilton was unwinding in Holmby Hills on Tuesday, Baca appeared before the county Board of Supervisors to angrily defend his original decision to release her. He said Hilton had developed a life-threatening psychological condition called decompensating. Exacerbating her condition, he said, was the fact she couldn’t tell jailers exactly what medications she had been prescribed and a disagreement between her own physicians on how she should be treated.
“What’s worth more, a person going to jail for driving with a suspended drivers license or someone losing their life?” Baca asked.
Supervisor Don Knabe questioned whether Hilton was really that ill.
“She looked pretty healthy at the MTV awards before going to jail,” he said.
The board took no action.