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Louise Thomas
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Paris Hilton believes her ADHD is a strength, not a setback.
In a personal essay for Teen Vogue, Hilton detailed her experience with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, noting how her perception of the diagnosis changed as she got older.
She says that growing up, the adults in her life, most notably the educators, disagreed with this notion. As a result, she was “misunderstood,” “failed” by her school system and subsequently placed in a special facility, Troubled Teen Industry.
The National Institute of Mental Health defines ADHD as “a developmental disorder marked by persistent symptoms of inattention and/or hyperactivity and impulsivity that interfere with functioning or development.”
The 43-year-old DJ admitted her mind was always moving at an abnormally fast pace when she was younger. She noticed herself being “too energetic,” “too distracted,” and “too talkative.”
Hilton didn’t know it at the time, but these tendencies that landed her in the troubled teen program at Provo Canyon School were all signs of ADHD.
“I wish someone had asked, ‘What’s really going on with her?’ Instead, I spent years feeling misunderstood, punished for the way my brain worked,” she confessed in the October 3 published essay.
When she was officially diagnosed, the socialite didn’t feel a sense of relief even though she finally had an understanding of what was going on. Instead, she viewed the diagnosis as a “label.”
Hilton said: “At first, being diagnosed felt like a label — something that boxed me in, defining me by what I couldn’t do, by what made me different.
“It’s something I used to keep hidden, worried about how it might be perceived. Would people think I was too scattered, too unfocused, or incapable of success?” she continued. “But those challenges are just one side of the coin. The other side reveals something beautiful: creativity, passion, resilience and a mind that thinks in bold, unexpected ways.”
That said, the mother of two thinks of her ADHD as a “superpower” now. “It’s my secret weapon in a world that often tells us to play it safe,” she proclaimed.
Hilton acknowledged how the stigma she once had is still believed and recognized by many. She noted how society expects people to “fit into boxes,” but in her experience, the most enriching times have come when she’s broken those boundaries and embraced her differences.
“ADHD is the reason I’ve been able to anticipate trends, it’s given me the creativity to build an empire, the drive to keep pushing the limits, and the empathy to connect with people on a deeper level,” the reality star wrote.
