Earlier this month, Paris Hilton sparked shockwaves when a clip from her reality TV series Paris in Love went viral.
In the footage, Paris reveals that she didn’t change her son Phoenix’s diaper herself until he was a month old. In case you missed it, Paris and her husband, Carter Reum, welcomed their little boy via surrogate in January of this year.
Paris’s transition into parenthood has been captured on the show, and in a scene that was shot a month after Phoenix’s birth, she admits that she is “scared” to change Phoenix for the first time.
Her sister, Nicky Hilton, is visibly shocked as she clarifies, “You’ve never done it?” to which Paris answers, “No.”
Phoenix’s nanny then steps in to show Paris what to do, with the star at one point asking which way the diaper is supposed to go.
While Nicky tells Paris to be “gentle,” the nanny advises her to “talk to” her son as she changes him. Nicky later says of her sister in a confessional, “She wasn’t one to really talk about having a baby, but motherhood… You’ve got to get your hands a little dirty.”
As the clip gained traction online, many viewers admitted that they were mostly saddened by Paris’s approach to parenting, with some commenting on the “disconnection” and lack of “bonding” between the star and her son.
However, Paris has now hit back at the discourse by insisting that she was only joking when she said she’d never changed her son’s diaper before — saying that she was simply playing the “whimsical character” that catapulted her to fame in The Simple Life.
She added that it was “interesting” how “seriously” people were taking what was apparently a “playful comment,” and said that she is “fully involved” when it comes to being a mom.
The star posted another clip from her show to her TikTok page, with this one capturing the moment she and Carter first brought Phoenix home.
In the video, Paris tells her husband, “I just changed his diaper, too; he pooped finally.” Carter asks, “Did you change it right before we left?”
“Yeah,” Paris answers. “So that was awesome.”
Writing in the post’s caption, Paris told fans, “Just wanted to clear the air about something. On my show, #ParisInLove, I joked about changing a diaper for the first time, which, let's be honest, was just me having a bit of fun - as you can see I changed his diaper the night I brought him home🥰”
“But, in all seriousness, when it comes to being a mom, I'm fully involved and loving every moment of it,” she went on. “It's interesting how a playful comment can be taken so seriously. Even though this season was the most real, authentic and raw I have ever been with my fans. Sometimes, I play into the whimsical character I portrayed on #TheSimpleLife. 👱🏼♀️”
“It's a role that's hard to shake off completely,” Paris concluded. “While I love a good laugh, I also believe in being real and responsible, especially as a parent. Let's remember to find the humor in life, but also to cherish and respect the real moments. Thanks for understanding, Happy Holidays and much love to you all! 💖”
In a later episode of Paris in Love, a therapist confronts the star over the role her nanny plays in raising her son.
In the scene, Paris explains that she always thinks Phoenix is “too hot,” but the nanny tells her he isn’t.
“You’ve given up authority to the baby nanny. I’m sorry, but that’s wrong,” the therapist tells her, prompting the confused star to ask, “It is?”
“Because you’re the expert, not her,” the therapist continues. “It doesn’t matter how many babies she’s raised; that’s your baby. You’re the expert on your child. I think the question is, Do you want the nanny to be the primary attachment figure? Or do you want to be the primary attachment?”
Paris then admits that she fears she isn’t “responsible” enough to care for her son, which the therapist immediately shuts down before offering to help her “work on” being a mom if she is keen for things to change.
Earlier this month, Paris announced that she and Carter welcomed their second baby together, a little girl called London, less than a year after Phoenix’s birth.
