Paris Hilton has opened up about her experience with rejection sensitivity dysphoria (RSD), describing it as akin to having “a demon in your mind.”
The 44-year-old socialite and entrepreneur discussed her condition on “The Him & Her Show,” a podcast hosted by Lauryn and Michael Bosstick on Dear Media. The episode is set to air on Monday.
During the conversation, Hilton revealed that she was first diagnosed with ADHD in her late twenties before discovering she also had RSD.
“It’s basically like any thought of negative perception—if you think someone is being rude or you sense something—you feel it as if it’s physical pain, even though it’s not real,” Hilton explained.
“It’s almost like a demon in your mind that whispers negative self-talk to you,” she added.
Paris Hilton, 44, is getting candid about her diagnosis of rejection sensitivity dysphoria (RSD) – a condition she has compared to like having ‘a demon in your mind;’ pictured January 6 in LA
The Cleveland Clinic defines RSD as experiencing intense emotional pain due to perceived failure or rejection.
The clinic confirmed there is a link between RSD and ADHD and experts suspect it happens due to differences in brain structure.
Hilton, who shares two young children with husband Carter Reum, said people living with RSD feel negative feelings ‘on such a deep level’ and have to learn to identify those feelings as ‘the RSD kicking in.’
‘I’ve been through so many things in my life and especially in the 2000s, just everything I was going through with the media,’ the socialite said.
She went on: ‘I’m obsessed with learning more about it and spreading the message, because I want people to know that it doesn’t have to be something that holds them back in life; it could be something that they can harness as a superpower, to really go for their dreams in life.’
The hotel heiress, 44, shared on The Him & Her Show that RSD ‘is basically, like, any thought of a negative perception, if you think someone is being rude or you feel something…. You will feel it like it’s physical pain and it’s not even real’
Hilton, who shares two young children with husband Carter Reum, said people living with RSD feel negative feelings ‘on such a deep level’ and have to learn to identify those feelings as ‘the RSD kicking in’; pictured January 20 in LA
The Simple Life star claimed that she was not diagnosed with ADHD as a child because society and the medical community were not focused on the ailment at the time.
‘No one was talking about it when I was a teenager – especially for girls and women,’ she said. ‘You know, everyone just would say, “Oh, this is, like, something little boys have” … and back then everyone always only said the negative parts about it.’
Hilton said that the undiagnosed ADHD impacted her education: ‘I was always so confused, and in school, it was so difficult for me.’
‘As hard as I would study, I could never remember anything. I was always failing my test. I was just always in detention, getting in trouble. And it was always just very difficult for me.’
Hilton said she feels she has properly refocused her mind to adapt to the conditions and thrive, which is why she ‘really wanted to reframe’ the public discourse on the topic in an effort to help people.
‘I see this my superpower, and I wouldn’t be entrepreneur I am today without it,’ Hilton said. ‘It was me, like, this drive, and always being in the future, and there’s, like, hard parts about it to it – very overwhelming.’
Hilton said on the podcast she feels she has properly refocused her mind to adapt to the conditions and thrive, which is why she ‘really wanted to reframe’ the public discourse on the topic in an effort to help others
Last Thursday, Hilton was in Washington, D.C. on Thursday to lend her support to the DEFIANCE Act, a bipartisan bill that if passed into law, would allow victims of AI deepfakes to sue individuals who produce and share the nonconsensual content; pictured January 22 in DC
Last Thursday, Hilton was in Washington, D.C. to join a protest against the growing issue of AI deepfakes.
She lent her support to the DEFIANCE Act alongside lawmakers, advocates and other survivors on Capitol Hill, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Laurel Lee (R-Fla.).
The bipartisan bill, if passed into law, would allow victims of AI deepfakes to sue individuals who produce and share the nonconsensual content.
Hilton spoke about her own experience with online sexual abuse as she recalled the impact of her sex tape leak in 2004.
The tape, titled 1 Night in Paris, was filmed in 2001 and featured a then-19-year-old Hilton and her then-boyfriend, poker player Rick Salomon, who later released it without her consent.
‘When I was 19 years old, a private intimate video of me was shared with the world without my consent,’ Hilton said at Thursday’s press conference.
She then likened her experience as well as the experiences of other survivors of deepfakes and revenge porn to ‘abuse.’
‘People called it a scandal. It wasn’t. It was abuse.,’ Hilton declared. ‘They called me names, they laughed and made me the punch line.
‘They sold my pain for clicks, and then they told me to be quiet, to move on, to even be grateful for the attention.’
‘This isn’t about just technology. It’s about power,’ Hilton concluded. ‘It’s about someone using someone’s likeness to humiliate, silence and strip them of their dignity.’
