When "The Simple Life" debuted in 2003, I described it as a new low in reality TV with "bubble-headed party girls who wouldn't know which end of the champagne bottle to chug from if their bodyguards weren't there to help."
Turns out the joke might have been on me.
"This Is Paris," a new documentary by director Alexandra Dean, makes the case that hotel heiress Paris Hilton is actually a genius. The film insists that the spoiled brat who claimed in "The Simple Life" pilot to have never heard of Walmart was actually just a Jean Harlow impersonator in a comedy routine, one she would continue to perform for more than a decade.
"Like, obviously, I know what Walmart is. It was all about entertainment," Hilton told TV critics earlier this year. "Anything that I was doing, I was always planning, in a way. I wanted to entertain the audience."
The dumb-blonde act paid off. Hilton, 39, gets six-figure paychecks for public appearances and has launched 19 product lines.
She also forged a trail for all future reality stars. At least five Kardashians owe her a Mercedes. It's fitting that the film is debuting on YouTube, a platform for young influencers who shouldn't even get access to the "America's Got Talent" parking lot.
"Starting off as a teenager, I basically created this kind of brand, and now it's kind of become like a formula where it's created a new genre of celebrity," Hilton said. "I feel proud of it in that way."
Dean was initially reluctant to take on the project but after meeting the socialite, she realized the film could be a perfect follow-up to her 2017 documentary, "Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story," a profile of the screen siren whose talents as an inventor were largely overlooked.
