'A mirror image': Paris Hilton, Drew Barrymore bond over solitary confinement as teens
Paris Hilton and Drew Barrymore are bonding over their shared trauma.
Hilton, 39, stopped by "The Drew Barrymore Show" on Monday to open up about her traumatic past following the recent release of her YouTube Originals documentary "This Is Paris."
Hilton's documentary, which is streaming free on her YouTube channel, shares the socialite's untold story, as Hilton reflects on the physical and emotional abuse she alleges she endured at Provo Canyon School, a Utah boarding school for troubled teens.
"I feel like when it comes to an interviewer, maybe they haven't had the same experiences as you," Barrymore, 45, said. "Well, not this time. I've been where you've been. And watching your documentary – I mean, I don't know how many interviews and conversations I'm going to have on this show where I'm watching a mirror image of everything I've been through, as well."
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In the documentary, Hilton recalls thinking she was being kidnapped the night her parents called in school representatives to take her away. At school, Hilton says she was yelled at, beaten, forced to take unidentified pills, and once made to take off her clothes and spend a day in solitary confinement. Hilton attended Provo Canyon School for 11 months until she turned 18 in 1999, reports People.
Barrymore said she also "had people take me away" to a behavioral institution for minors while battling substance abuse and alcoholism earlier in her career.
"I've been locked up in solitary confinement, I've been in a place for lengthy periods of time – we're talking a year, a year and a half, plus," she said. "I haven't seen a kind of story like this really reflected out there very often that's one I recognize so deeply."
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Barrymore and Hilton, however, had different takeaways from their experiences. Barrymore said it "saved my life" and she "wouldn't change a thing."
"The people at my place were really good," Barrymore said. "I mean, I didn't like being thrown in solitary confinement. I will say that I was very rebellious. I started riots there all the time. There was a lot of other kids like me, and my mom just didn't know what to do with me. I was doing drugs. I was out of control. She just threw her hands up and threw me in there, not knowing where else to turn to. And that place really did help me."
Hilton said she "didn't deserve to go there" and suffers from anxiety, trust issues and insomnia as a result from the alleged abuse.
"My mom and dad were just very strict and sheltered when I lived in L.A." Hilton said. "They just didn't want me to grow up. Then I moved to New York and that's when my life changed and I just was sneaking out at night and going to clubs and ditching school, but not doing anything terrible — just wanting to go out at night, and that really scared my parents, because they were so protective."
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Hilton said sharing her truth has improved her relationship with mother, Kathy Hilton, who was unaware of what their daughter went through in Utah.
"We're closer than ever," Hilton said. "It's something that we just never talked about it, so it was very hard for her to hear, but I think just talking about it just brought us even closer than we were."
In a statement to USA TODAY, Provo Canyon School CEO Adam McLain said the school was "sold by its previous ownership in August 2000" and he "therefore cannot comment on the operations or patient experience prior to that time."
Contributing: Hannah Yasharoff
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Paris Hilton, Drew Barrymore bond over solitary confinement as teens
