When Paris Hilton wed Carter Reum at a lavish, pink-tinged ceremony in Bel Air just over a year ago, the pair already had pregnancy on their minds. Though their romantic relationship had only begun two years prior, the pair were friends for over a decade and fell in love entirely by accident.
“Carter and I have been friends for over 15 years,” Hilton told Vogue in an interview about their nuptials. “We stayed in each other’s lives over time, and we reconnected at a Thanksgiving get-together in 2019. From that night, I felt the spark, and the rest is history.”
It makes sense that the two moved in the same circles — Hilton is the daughter of millionaire real estate businessman Richard Hilton, and the granddaughter of Hilton Hotels founder Conrad Hilton, while Reum is the son of millionaire CEO W. Robert Reum, who ran one of the USA’s largest private enterprises, Amsted Industries, according to Forbes. They’re entrepreneurial nepo babies.
Now they have a baby of their own. Hilton posted a picture on Instagram today of her hand clutched around a tiny thumb, with the caption, “You are already loved beyond words”. But as it transpires, husband Reum welcomed his first child ten years ago. Here’s the low down on this “secret” sibling, as well all the details we have on millionaire Carter Reum.
Reum is already a father to a ten-year-old girl
Paris Hilton and Carter Reum are thrilled to welcome their new baby, who was born via surrogate, but the process will be more familiar for Reum than it will for his hotel heiress wife.
It turns out Reum is already father to a 10-year-old girl and her mother is reality star Laura Bellizzi, who once starred in the short-lived VH-1 reality series Secrets of Aspen, but rumour has it Reum is not present in the child’s life. As reported by the Daily Mail, a source claims that Reum has financially supported his daughter for her whole life, but has only met her once.
Adding an extra element: when Bellizzi was pregnant, people assumed the child was Mel Gibson’s, given that the two dated for a short period of time. Gibson vehemently denied these accusations, as did Bellizzi, and it was later revealed that the baby was in fact Reum’s.
Millioniare dad, millionaire son
Reum’s dad, W. Robert “Bob” Reum, was a Chicago-born Yale graduate who became a big name in American business after boosting the portfolio and reputation of Amsted Industries, a company operating in the railroad, vehicular, and construction markets. According to Forbes, the Amsted remains one of America’s largest companies and has an estimated revenue of over $3 billion.
Carter Reum has built his own empire. Reum and his brother Courtney are co-founders of the angel investment firm M13, which has invested in huge projects like Lyft, SpaceX, Pinterest, Headspace and ClassPass. Carter himself is worth an estimated $35million to $40 million and has written a book on entrepreneurship with his brother, entitled Shortcut Your Startup: Ten Ways to Speed Up Entrepreneurial Success.
But he’s no match for his wife’s net worth, which is estimated to be a whopping $300 million.
His attempt to make ‘açaí alcohol’ a thing
Cast your mind back to the days before kombucha shots, “nourish bowls” and kale smoothies, when jade rollers just sounded like the name of a distant acquaintance you’d met once at a party. Think back to 2007, before the financial crash, when people had dreams. One of these people was Carter Reum, who alongside his brother was in the process of launching an alcoholic açaí drink brand, VEEV.
The brothers left their jobs at Goldman Sachs to purse the açaí alcohol dream, which, to be fair, may have been well-timed given the impending financial implosion. In 2010, Carter was celebrating the drinks company’s moderate success in the Columbia College Today paper, where he said: “The experience I’ve gotten at such a young age never would have been possible if I’d continued at an investment bank. I always say that VeeV is our ‘business school.’ And the success we’ve had has been even sweeter given that my brother and I are doing this together.”
Reum did evenutally go back to working in investments, and VEEV seems to have all but disappeared from the face of the earth.
He adores Paris — even with all her Paris-isms
Paris, while unquestionably iconic, is not necessarily the archetype of an easy-going partner. Her trademark personality traits are being demanding, entitled and ‘extra’ to the extreme. Luckily, Carter Reum is happy to go along with the ride when it comes to documenting their relationship (including taking part in an entire series named Paris In Love) and finds her unique charm endearing.
In a clip from Paris in Love, when the pair are discussing their pet peeves about the other, Reum is reluctant to admit that he finds anything about Paris annoying. Finally, he concedes. “Well, there's one thing. You're a little less organised than I would like. I just blame your creativity on that.” Paris replies: “Life could be worse,” and Reum agrees, “It could be way worse. I always tell people if you weren't messy, if there wasn't one small thing not perfect about you, I wouldn't believe you were true myself.” He loves Paris almost as much as Paris loves Paris — they really are a perfect match.
