Philosophically-speaking, we’ll always have Paris — even in challenging times like today, when the Trump Administration launched a global trade war. Until this moment, the eternity of Paris was a beautiful and secular city across the Atlantic Ocean, my home away from home for over a decade.

The other Paris is good-natured about the name confusion, cutting a special invite to the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics for NBC Sports. Today, we’re talking about Paris Hilton for real, as the global cover star for 10 editions of Grazia worldwide including USA, Italy, UK, Netherlands, Germany, Bulgaria, India, France, Singapore, and Malaysia.

On a sun-drenched rooftop in Venice Beach, California, Paris Hilton steps into the spotlight, solely on her own terms, with photographer Daniella Midenge [IG] at her side. The duo was poised to create image magic and they succeeded. J Errico styles Hilton in Dior, Lapointe, Monse, N°21, Versace and more with Jewelry from Paumé Los Angeles./ Hair by Preston Wada; makeup by Melissa Hurkman

This worldwide exposure in Grazia isn’t the first time, Paris Hilton has grabbed for a human-Olympics gold ring. In spring 2023, Hilton responded to an outpouring of positivity and caught-off-guard understanding and support for her personal journey as revealed in the 2020 Documentary ‘This Is Paris’. Hilton followed with a new book ‘Paris: The Memoir’.

In explaining the personal revelations in her film, one magazine summed up Paris’ pov perfectly: “I’m Not a Dumb Blonde. I’m Just Really Good at Pretending to Be One.” Hilton raises this concept in her new Grazia interview, and AOC processes this thought through the lens of Marilyn Monroe.

We will never know exactly why Monroe ended her life, but we do know that she was an enormously-informed woman, who struggled to be taken seriously as an intelligent person. The books in her library told a very different story about Marilyn’s intellectual capacity — which was for real, as people close to the Hollywood star have confirmed.

In the case of Paris Hilton, she tells Marshall Heyman on Grazia: “I had created this kind of Barbie doll, perfect life character to be like a mask.” And we note that Paris brought up Marilyn as well in her own narrative.

Paris Hilton, her husband Carter Reum and their two children Phoenix [age 2] and London [age 1] did not know that their home had burned to the ground in the January 2025 California wildfires. Their Malibu home had a unique blue door, obvious in the rubble.

Hilton posted a short video tour on TikTok of the remains of the family home, with the gorgeous Malibu sun setting as if nothing had changed. It’s a devastating 20 seconds of film, Heyman observes.

“What breaks my heart even more is knowing that this isn’t just my story,” Paris wrote. “So many people have lost everything. … And yet, in this pain, I know I’m incredibly lucky. My loved ones, my babies, my pets are safe.”

Her babies are safe, but very confused about not being able to go home.

We’ll table for a moment Hilton’s upcoming business ventures and stay with her fire response. Working on the ground in LA kept her from being depressed about life at her home, with thousands of precious memories burned to ashes.

She contacted Rebecca Grone, the head of impact at her company, 11:11 Media. “She helps me with all the advocacy work and philanthropic efforts,” says Hilton. She raised over a million dollars for Los Angeles fire emergency relief efforts.

Paris went to Pasadena, working with the Humane Society to care for severely-burned animals. Hilton helped put people up in hotels, visiting them, and “bringing surprises,” she says.

A ‘touchy subject’ that AOC observed during the fires concerned the community of Altadena, a thriving community with a large Black population, severely impacted by the Easton Fire. There were multiple leading figures like Paris, working on the ground in Altadena to try to save this unique, integrated community. But the national narrative about this part of LA was one of a double standard in the Black press. Hilton took concrete steps to help rewrite the script.

Hilton’s nonprofit, 11:11 Media Impact, partnered with GoFundMe and the Pasadena Women's Business Center to award $25,000 grants to 50 women-owned small businesses in Altadena, California. This Paris Hilton project was just reported out this week and is not part of the Grazia Interview.

We’ve searched the local Black press, and this gesture from Paris is very well-received and with gratitude expressed.

Paris Hilton’s upcoming business projects run down in Grazia include her 30th fragrance called ‘Iconic’. “It’s an art. I’m the best at doing them,” she says of her coterie of scents. “They’re all like my babies.”

In May, she’ll release a skincare line. “I have to do it myself. It has real results and real science,” she explains. “I’m obsessed with skincare, and I figured everyone is always asking my beauty secrets.”

Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie will return to reality television with a three-part special called ‘Paris & Nicole: The Encore’ on Peacock.

Unlike Marilyn Monroe, Paris Hilton has overcome her own demons and created a beautiful, meaningful life on her journey. AOC read several interviews about Hilton over the years, and we should also underscore her concrete political action in Washington, DC.

Based on her own agonizing experience, Paris was instrumental in getting a bill designed to prevent child abuse in youth residential programs passed in December 2024. President Joe Biden signed the “Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act on Christmas Eve”.

For all her accomplishments, Paris Hilton, at age 44, hopefully has a long runway ahead of her. We’ll be watching. ~ Anne