Paris Hilton was reeling after a sex tape she made with Rick Salomon was leaked. Like Pamela Anderson before her and Kim Kardashian after, Hilton was accused of being behind the tape’s release, with accusations she’d done it to garner fame and fortune. So, did she actually make a fortune?
Following the tape’s release, Hilton filed a $30 million invasion of privacy lawsuit against Red Light District Video, who distributed the tape. The New York Daily News reported in 2004 that her filing was tossed out, and she agreed to settle for a cut of the distribution profits in addition to an upfront payment of around $400,000. Meanwhile, Salomon dropped a defamation lawsuit he’d brought against Hilton.
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In 2023, Hilton opened up about the trauma she suffered from the sex tape’s release in “Paris: the Memoir.” She said she’d never wanted to make the video, but Salomon, much older than her 18 years, had coerced her into it. “I wasn’t capable of the level of trust required to make a videotape like that,” she wrote. “I had to drink myself silly. Quaaludes helped. But I did it. I have to own that. I knew what he wanted, and I went with it.” She said she’d wanted to “throw up” when she learned that the tape had gone public. “All I could do was cry,” Hilton shared. “I felt like my life was over, and in many ways, it was.”
