Kat Von D kidnapped Speaks Out About ‘Torturous’ moments

Almost two decades have passed since reality television personality, and socialite Paris Hilton ruled the American media scene. In the years since her days on “The Simple Life,” the now-DJ has seemed to retreat a bit from her magazine cover-seeking days but emerged last month as a survivor ready to reckon with her abusers when she opened up about traumatic events she experienced as a teen. Appearing in a new documentary called This Is Paris the former model revealed that in her early years she endured abuse at the hands of administrators at a boarding school she attended as a teen.

The new documentary chronicled her experiences at Provo Canyon School, a youth treatment center, and featured a group of other female survivors and former peers of Hilton that she knew while attending the school. Now, Hilton’s documentary is prompting others to open up, including someone pretty well known: Kat Von D.

Von D, a controversial figure in her own right, revealed that she had experienced abuse as a teen while attending the Utah-based boarding school.

Von D is a Mexican-born tattoo artist whose career has been mired in controversy particularly as of late. In recent years she has been slammed for her anti-vaccine stance (which she eventually retracted) and she has been accused of anti-Semitism by association (which she has also denied). 

Opening up to her fans in a 23-minute-long Instagram video on Monday, the tattoo artist revealed that she had been sent to the Utah boarding school at age 15 and was “locked up for half a year, without ever seeing the sun.”

Addressing her experience as a teen, Von D thanked Hilton for being the one to open up the conversation about “torturous” boarding schools. She went onto encourage others to watch Hilton’s documentary.

“I spent those 6 traumatic months of my teenage years, only to leave with major PTSD and other traumas due to the unregulated, unethical and abusive protocols of this ‘school’ — and cannot believe this place is STILL OPERATING,” Von D wrote in a caption of the video.

“Please take a moment to watch @parishilton ‘s documentary #ThisIsParis and follow @breakingcodesilence to see other survivors testimonials and better understand the horrors of the ‘Troubled Teen’ industry, and the damage it causes to not just the kids, but the families,” she concluded.

In her heartbreaking video, Von D recalled her experience attending the Provo Canyon School.

“Watching [Hilton] talk about some of her past trauma going to this school that her parents sent her as a teenager — I don’t like to call them schools because they’re not schools they’re f***ing lockdown facilities. It just triggered so much s*** for me because it turns out I went to the same school,” Von D explained. “I was sent to the same place and I was 15 when I was sent and I spent my 16th birthday in there… I was there for a total of 6 months and they were definitely the most traumatic 6 months of my life.”

Like Hilton, Von D was kidnapped from her own bed in the middle of the night before being dragged against her will to the boarding school. In her video, Von D claimed to have been blindfolded during the drive.

“I had no idea it was gonna end up being that I was trapped for six months at this pretty crazy, torturous awful place,” she revealed.

Von D recalled being force-fed medication and emotionally abused.

Von D asserted that while she had been “spared of the sexual abuse and the physical abuse” that other experienced she was definitely a witness to these events during her time at the school.

This Is Paris is a nearly two-hour film that goes into detail about the alleged abuse the model and her peers endured while at the boarding school.

In the video, Hilton explains how her trauma followed her into adulthood and even defined how she ultimately branded herself.

Speaking about the school, Hilton revealed that she endured physical and emotional abuse and was force-fed medication, she also explained that while she isn’t currently pursuing legal justice, she is working to have such schools shut down.

“I want these places shut down,” Hilton explained. “I want them to be held accountable. And I want to be a voice for children and now adults everywhere who have had similar experiences. I want it to stop for good and I will do whatever I can to make it happen.”