The boarding school where Paris Hilton claims she was molested has had its license revoked
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Utah has revoked the license of the boarding school where Paris Hilton says she was abused as a child, saying the school “failed to provide effective health and safety services to clients.”
The federal action, which went into effect Monday, reveals multiple non-compliance issues at Provo Canyon School in Springville. The school has 15 days to request a hearing before the Department of Health and Human Services.
The broad citations, which date back to 2025, include failure to increase the employee-to-customer ratio, unnecessary restraint and aggressive customer communication, negligence, and not verifying employee information or submitting background checks on applicants in a timely manner. State health officials placed temporary restrictions on the school in May, saying staff did not seek immediate medical attention for a seriously injured student.
“For more than fifty years, children have come forward with stories of abuse, neglect and trauma,” Hilton said in a statement on Tuesday. “Today, the state confirmed what survivors knew all along: Provo Canyon School failed to take care of the children.
“I was one of those children. I know what it’s like to cry for help and believe that no one is coming. Today, the children inside that center know that someone will protect them.”
Hilton, a hotel heir and media mogul, spent about a year at the school in the late 1990s. He alleges that the staff beat him, watched him take a shower, fed him unknown pills and locked him up naked.
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More than 20 years ago, Paris Hilton began building an entertainment empire that matched her reputation as a ditzy blonde. But that wasn’t his real self – it was the character he played in public as a response to trauma. Now, he has abandoned the character and shows the real society. In this interview with guest host Talia Schlanger, Paris opens up about her mental health struggles and the abuse she faced at a boarding school for troubled youth. Also, he talks about making his return to music with his new album, “Timeless Icon,” and reuniting with Nicole Richie to celebrate the 20th anniversary of “The Simple Life.”
Shannon Thoman-Black, director of the division of licensing and background checks at the Utah Department of Health and Human Services, said Tuesday during a press conference that the facility must be closed by August 6. She also said that the owners “do not have to reapply for a new license for five years” and that the department continues “weekly inspections and monitoring compliance.”
“It’s actually incredibly unsafe if we can go in and put a sign on the door and say, ‘Everybody get out,'” Thoman-Black said. “We have a responsibility to make sure these children are released to safe places.”
Hilton, 45, asked Utah licensees to close the school. He has testified about his experiences there in Congress and state legislatures in the US, helping to pass youth protection laws in Utah and 15 other states. Utah has long played a major role in the troubled youth industry, a network of private, for-profit residential facilities for children with behavioral problems.
Paris Hilton joined members of the US Congress Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Laurel Lee in Washington in the campaign to pass the Objection Act, a bill to give victims of deeply objectionable pornographic images the right to sue those who produce and share the content.
The Provo Canyon School, described on its website as a mental health treatment facility for youth ages 12 to 18, did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking comment. The government said in its letter that all services at the center must be completed by August 6.
In June, Hilton returned to the school to speak in support of two families who filed lawsuits alleging that their children were abused there.
The school is under new ownership. Management said they could not comment on anything that came before the change, including Hilton’s time there.
