Paris Hilton on sex tape: I was 'depressed, humiliated'

Paris Hilton says she was "depressed, humiliated" after her sex tape scandal. Photo / Getty

Reality star, businesswoman and heiress Paris Hilton has reflected on her 2003 sex tape scandal in a new interview, saying it remains her biggest regret in life.

Speaking to Marie Claire, the 36-year-old Simple Life star reflected on the sex tape, which she filmed with then-boyfriend Rick Salomon when she was just 18. Hilton maintains that the tape, titled One Night In Paris and sold for profit, was released without her consent - and insists she never made any money from it.

"That's one thing that really pisses me off when I hear it, because I never, ever received one dollar from that video," she tells Marie Claire. "That is the last thing that I would want out there."

A tearful Hilton, who has parlayed her reality TV fame into a wildly successful dance music career - she's the highest-paid female DJ in the world - says she felt the release of the tape irreversibly tainted her public image.

"It's really hurtful, because my whole life I really looked up to Princess Diana, all these elegant, amazing women, and I feel like [Salomon] just took that all away from me. I could have been like that, but because of that tape, I will always be judged and thought of as whatever they say about me because of a private moment between my boyfriend and me," she says.

Hilton says the fallout from the tape - released just as her reality show, The Simple Life, was making its TV debut - left her afraid to leave the house. Looking back, she deeply regrets her relationship with professional poker player Salomon, twelve years her senior. After his relationship with Hilton, Salomon went on to marry both Shannen Doherty (for nine months in 2002) and Pamela Anderson (for seven years from 2007).

"I wish I had never met him. That is actually the one regret in my life. I wish that I had never met that guy. I could not leave my house for months. I was so depressed, humiliated. I didn't want to be seen in public," she says.