Paris Hilton opens up to Barbara Walters from jail

It's been a guessing game about who Paris Hilton would grant a from-jail interview to and Barbara Walters won the coveted prize, sorta, speaking to the twice-jailed hotel heiress from her cell during a phone conversation on Sunday that she then spoke about today. The story goes, as reported by Star Magazine, that Kathy Hilton, the mother of Paris Hilton, was speaking to Barbara Walters about her daughter on Sunday when The Simple Life star decided to phone home to speak to mommy. When Paris Hilton was told by Kathy who she was talking to, Paris herself decided to make a collect call to Barbara Walters. Let the PR makeover continue.
Paris Hilton has been trying to improve her public image, one where the last picture that fans saw is of a screaming, crying Paris in the back seat of a police car (Hilton and her people really hoped that the last pictures before jail would be the glamorous ones from the MTV Movie Awards that you can check out through the gallery link on the left or that sly look she gave in her mug shot). Paris Hilton released a statement over the weekend about the lessons she has learned and reportedly said to Barbara Walters, "I would like to make a difference. God has given me this new chance."
The new chance that Paris Hilton might be referring to is her getting tossed back in jail after being released early and put on house arrest. Paris Hilton didn't know if she was coming or going last week, checking into the Lynwood Century Regional Detention Center two days early, starting her sentence on Sunday night. Then, on Thursday, Paris Hilton was reassigned to house arrest and set free. But freedom was short-lived for Paris Hilton, who was handcuffed in a Los Angeles courtroom and dragged back to jail on Friday, shouting "Mom! Mom! It's not right!"
Paris Hilton apparently told Barbara Walters on Sunday, according to Star Magazine, after a visit from her sister Nicky Hilton and former boyfriend Stavros Niarchos, "I'm not the same person I was. I used to act dumb. It was an act. I am 26 years old, and that act is no longer cute. It is not who I am, nor do I want to be that person for the young girls who looked up to me." Paris Hilton told Walters that she was a mess during that first stint in jail, saying, "I was severely depressed and felt as if I was in a cage. I was not myself. It was a horrible experience."
Paris Hilton also released a statement over the weekend, which read, in part, "I was shocked to see all of the attention devoted to the amount of time I would spend in jail for what I have done by the media, public and city officials. I would hope going forward that the public and the media would focus on "more important things.""
We all would. But, for now, Paris Hilton is still the biggest story out there and it certainly feels like Paris and the people around her are trying to change the public reputation of Hilton, one which saw people almost overjoyed that this woman was getting dragged back into jail. According to stories today, Paris Hilton has been talking about doing charity work and opening a playhouse for sick children, which may be true, but is also clearly an effort to offset stories about Hilton planning a weekend party to celebrate her house arrest.
Kathy Hilton thinks this new Paris Hilton is for real, telling Barbara Walters, according to Star, "Young people who look up to people like Paris can learn from this."
In one of the most bizarre twists in the Paris Hilton story to date - and that's saying something - the Reverend Al Sharpton has gotten involved. According to the LA Times, Sharpton is going to meet with Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca to discuss his early release of Paris Hilton before being ordered to take her back into custody. He wants to discuss the special treatment given to Paris Hilton by the system, while Baca claims that he decided to release Paris early solely because of the deterioration of her health.
Paris Hilton, 26 year old daughter of Hilton Hotel owner Richard Hilton, made the transition from socialite to wannabe actress when she and best friend Nicole Ritchie starred in The Simple Life TV series. Paris Hilton also appeared in the remake House of Wax, plus the films Wonderland and Raising Helen. Hilton also released a debut CD called 'Paris' on her own record label aptly dubbed Heiress Records. In 2003, a video of Paris Hilton having sex with former boyfriend Rick Soloman was leaked to the Internet and later became a widespread phenomenon known as the Paris Hilton sex tape.