Paris Hilton has opened up about the challenges she faced growing up before she was diagnosed with ADHD, revealing how feeling misunderstood at school ultimately shaped the message behind her latest project.
The 45-year-old media personality is now using her own experience to create Paris & Pups, a new animated children’s series featuring a young girl with ADHD. Hilton hopes the show will give children a more positive representation of neurodivergence while encouraging them to embrace the qualities that make them different.
Speaking to the Press Association, Hilton recalled struggling with school, remembering things and keeping up with expectations before she understood why certain situations were so difficult for her. ([The Standard][1])
Paris Hilton Was Diagnosed With ADHD in Her Late 20s
Hilton said she was not diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder until her late 20s.
Looking back at her childhood, she explained that ADHD was not widely discussed when she was growing up, particularly in relation to young girls. As a result, she often felt that adults around her did not understand how her mind worked.
She recalled being punished at school, struggling to remember things and receiving poor grades. According to Hilton, the lack of understanding made her feel constantly misunderstood.
Her reflections highlight a key theme behind Paris & Pups: children can thrive when their individual needs are recognised and supported.
Hilton said she wishes she had understood her ADHD earlier because better support could have changed her experience at school.
Why Paris Hilton Created Paris & Pups
Hilton has channelled those memories into a children’s animated series called Paris & Pups.
The programme follows 12-year-old Paris Star, a character who has ADHD and lives at the fictional Fabuluxe hotel with her dogs. The young character goes on adventures while exploring creativity, friendship, empathy and the challenges that can come with having a differently wired brain. ([The Standard][1])
Rather than presenting ADHD purely through its difficulties, Hilton wants the series to explore positive qualities such as imagination, energy, empathy and a willingness to dream big.
She described ADHD as a “superpower” in her own life and said she wanted children watching the programme to see that their differences can also be celebrated.
The series was created with support from Understood.org, a non-profit organisation focused on supporting people with neurodivergence.
Motherhood Made the Project More Personal
Hilton’s role as a mother has also influenced the project.
She and husband Carter Reum welcomed their son Phoenix in January 2023, followed by their daughter London in November 2023. Both children were born via surrogate. ([Yahoo News New Zealand][2])
Hilton explained that becoming a mother changed the way she looked at children’s entertainment.
Seeing the world through Phoenix and London’s eyes has made her more conscious of the stories young children watch and the messages they receive while growing up.
That personal connection has given Paris & Pups another layer for Hilton. She wants to create something that children can enjoy while also seeing themselves represented positively on screen.
She has also spoken about how much her children enjoy seeing their mother appear in the animated project.
Paris Wants Children to See ADHD Differently
For Hilton, the series is about more than simply putting an ADHD character into a children’s cartoon.
She believes young viewers should have the opportunity to see ADHD represented through creativity, personality and possibility rather than only through difficulties.
Hilton has previously spoken about how her diagnosis helped her make sense of experiences from earlier in her life. She now sees aspects of her ADHD as connected to her creativity and entrepreneurial approach. ([People.com][3])
That perspective is central to the new programme.
By making Paris Star an adventurous and imaginative character, Hilton hopes children with ADHD will recognise parts of themselves in the story.
The Real-Life Inspiration Behind the Fabuluxe Hotel
The show’s hotel setting also has a personal connection to Hilton.
She is the great-granddaughter of hotel entrepreneur Conrad Hilton, founder of the Hilton Hotels empire. Hilton has previously spoken about spending part of her teenage years living at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. ([RTE][4])
That background helped inspire the fictional Fabuluxe hotel and gives the animated series a setting that reflects an unusual part of Hilton’s own childhood.
The project combines several elements of her life — her experience with ADHD, her connection to hotels, her creativity and her new perspective as a parent.
Paris Hilton Plans More Children’s Content
Paris & Pups is not expected to be Hilton’s final venture into children’s entertainment.
She has indicated that she has additional ideas in development and enjoys using what she describes as her ADHD-driven creativity to develop new concepts for young audiences.
The series is aimed at children aged five to eight and is available through Sky Kids and NOW. ([RTE][4])
Hilton has built a career across television, music, fashion, business and digital media, but her latest project places a different part of her personal story at the centre.
Paris Hilton’s New Chapter
From early fame as a socialite to becoming an entrepreneur, media personality and mother, Hilton has spent much of her life in the public eye.
Now, through Paris & Pups, she is turning a difficult part of her childhood into a story designed to help younger viewers feel understood.
Her message is straightforward: having ADHD does not have to define a child by limitations. For Hilton, it can also be connected with creativity, imagination, empathy and an ability to see possibilities differently.
And with Phoenix and London watching alongside children around the world, the project has become a particularly personal chapter in Paris Hilton’s evolving career. ([The Standard][1])
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The source of this news is The Standard.