Kathy Hilton prefers life to be pink, fragrant, perfectly packaged. Unpleasantness distresses her, blemishes irritate.
I live in a little dream world,' she says. 'I've always tried to live my life perfectly. My mother always said: "Never do anything that you wouldn't want the world to know about."'
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Two of a kind: Mum Kathy and daughter Paris bring Oxford Street to a standstill as Paris launches her new perfume.
So, Kathy, 48, was understandably beside herself when the world and its dog watched as her daughter, Paris - socialite, would-be singer, model, and just plain famous for being famous - was handcuffed and sentenced to 45 days in prison for flouting a drink-driving ban last year.
Kathy, wife of Rick Hilton, heir to the vast family hotel empire fortune, is treated almost like royalty in America. But for the whole family, Paris's imprisonment was a humiliating, degrading experience. Perhaps because of that, it was a story that generated headlines around the world.
There was undeniable
schadenfreude in the tale of the pampered little rich girl brought low by justice. And as Kathy is the first to admit: 'Whoever you are - whether you're Paris Hilton, anyone - if you do something illegal there's a consequence. But still, I wouldn't have wished that on anybody. It was really scary. Every day she was in prison was like a month. You don't sleep. I lost so much weight,' she says, before adding with a wry smile: 'There's always an up-side.'
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Thanks mum: Paris Hilton arrives at a party thrown by her parents Rick and Kathy Hilton to celebrate her new fragrance.
Stylish: The heiress
Kathy has, by her own admission, enjoyed a charmed, five-star lifestyle in which any dream can be packaged and served on a silver platter at whim. One of her dreams, a skin care range, is packaged in pink now on the coffee table in front of us in her suite at Claridge's.
Ironically, Kathy Hilton's beauty range was due to be launched last June, just as Paris, the eldest of her four children, began her jail sentence.
'We had to delay for several months. I couldn't do it,' she says. 'I was a
wreck. I looked so bad. The judge was so sadistic. When he said, "45 days", I yelped. The Press said I was laughing. But my whole body was trembling.
We were allowed to say goodbye to Paris, but there were all these policemen standing around and one pushed me away, touching my breast. That didn't sit well with me. That's when I yelled and said: "I hope you're happy Your Honour. Now you're famous - can I have your autograph?" I wanted to humiliate him.
'We were shaking. We were crying. I was weak at the knees. I couldn't walk out of the place.'
I last met Kathy in these reassuringly oldeworlde surroundings two years ago and - despite some of the sensational things that have been written about her family - she is a warm, decent woman who has been hit hard by her daughter's excesses. This is the first time she has spoken, at length, about Paris's imprisonment, despite offers of huge sums of cash from American TV shows.
Baby beauty: Rick Hilton with wife Kathy and baby Paris.
Kathy was staying with her wealthy father-in-law, Barron Hilton, when she saw on Fox News that Paris had been arrested for drink driving.
'My father-in-law's secretary was in the sitting room. She said Paris had been arrested for driving under the influence, that she'd just seen it on the news. I thought maybe it was another silly story - but it wasn't.'
She doesn't say, but I suspect she was furious with her daughter. The last time we spoke she told me that her response to a humiliating video posted on the internet of Paris having sex with her boyfriend was: 'If you're going to do something like that with a boy, then make sure you hide the damn thing.'
Even so, Kathy remains convinced that the punishment Paris received was unduly harsh. She believes her daughter was imprisoned to make a name for a publicity-hungry judge.
While Paris remained optimistic throughout the trial that she would escape a jail sentence, friends in the media had warned Kathy to expect the worst, and she tried to prepare her daughter accordingly.
'I was honest. I told Paris: "You're going [to jail]." We were in tears. You start reading about what's going to happen to you in prison. I still thought it would be a week, ten days tops.' The day of sentencing descended into a media frenzy. 'They had so many people in that court you'd have thought we'd killed somebody. You've never seen so many police. We go upstairs and everyone's out of their offices on every floor staring at us like we were monkeys. They all wanted to a get a look at Paris.
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Family album: Paris with her mum and dad and sister Nicky
'The judge actually said: "Oh Miss Hilton, so you were driving your car - well you probably have five cars." He had this
attitude. He's doing the performing.
'And then he suddenly says: "I'm giving you 45 days in the LA County Jail." That's where Charles Manson [the murderer of actress Sharon Tate] was! This was
serious.
'Paris's cell was the size of two of these couches (she points to the overstuffed sofa we're sitting on), this tall (she raises pink painted fingers to 5ft above the richly carpeted floor), a little window with those bright hospital lights that are always on - and
freezing cold.
'And Paris's jail suit,' Kathy is close to tears now. 'I found it when she was released. When I felt how
rough it was - that thing was like sandpaper - I threw it away.'
There are plenty, of course, who will find it hard to sympathise with a Prada princess reduced to wearing scratchy prison hand-outs. After all, she committed a crime, she got caught, she was sent to jail.
Certainly Paris's party lifestyle suggested a young girl who was spinning increasingly out of control and who thus might benefit from a spell of enforced sobriety.
Off to jail: Paris blows kisses through her car window the night she went to prison
But in fairness, there were many in America who agreed that her 45-day sentence was excessive - including prison officials who released her from the overcrowded county jail and placed her under house arrest 72 hours into her sentence, citing concerns for her health. But this decision was swiftly overruled by the original trial judge who jailed her and, within hours, she was returned to prison sobbing.
For her parents, it was an especially tortuous time. 'When they were taking Paris to jail for the second time, she went to kiss me goodbye. The guards said "No" and just took her. Four people were grabbing at her and she was in chains. It wasn't as if she was going to get away.'
Subsequent prison visits were horrendous. 'We only got to see her for 30 minutes on a Saturday or Sunday. You'd go down and walk into a freezing cold, dark dungeon with people that are not very nice.
'There were rumours the inmates were going to do this and that to her. People were even throwing excrement at the window of her cell. You don't get one minute's peace in jail - no sleep. People are screaming and singing all night. All you hear are chains rattling.
'Paris hadn't been eating. She was afraid to walk out to the shower because other inmates could walk straight in. I couldn't send any books, take any food - anything.'
'I just said to her: "Honey, we're a strong family. We love you. There's a reason for this. Let's take this as an opportunity for you to slow down and reflect. You never have any time alone. You're like a hamster chasing your tail in a cage. You've got to serve your time - there's nothing we can do. So, do it with dignity, like a lady."'
Rick and Kathy were waiting for Paris in their car when she finally completed her sentence.
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Reunited: Paris is greeted by her overjoyed parents after leaving jail
'She looked like she was 12 years old,' says Kathy. 'She had her hair in braids and no make-up. Paris wasn't sure if people were going to be nice or screaming and throwing things.
'But she said: "I'm walking out of that front door. I'm going to be treated like everybody else. I'm facing it."
'Then, everybody was cheering and screaming support. She ran to the car and hugged us. She was so happy to be out. People on the freeway were beeping. It was like the craziest thing.
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Free: Paris greets her fans as she leaves jail
For the next three days it was just the family hanging out together by the fire. We were all so appreciative.'
Paris, though, remained in an emotional state for several days and Kathy says the nightmares continue for both of them.
'Paris cried uncontrollably for several days. All she wanted to do was read her letters from fans. There were four rooms full of them. She read them until late at night.'
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Reflective: Paris's jail term made her realise how much she had taken for granted
Kathy is well aware of how some people perceive her daughter. 'People say: "Oh she's spoilt, she's this, she's that." But, until you've walked in someone's shoes for many miles, don't make a judgment call. It's true that life's been comfortable for Paris and jail was probably tougher on her than it would be on, let's say, an everyday person.
'When Paris came home she realised how much she'd taken for granted.
'There was a new appreciation of her freedom, of her life, of every little thing.' Kathy pauses, fiddling with her heart-shaped perfume bottle. 'Do you know, I think it's taught Paris a lot - and it's also taught me.
'I now have this sense of, it is what it is - I am who I am. I'm doing the best that I can. Everyone knows about this so I can stop worrying about what everyone thinks.'
That sex video. The sojourn in jail. So, Mrs Hilton, are you ashamed of your daughter? | Mail Online
Kathy Hilton talks about her skank of a daughter
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