Reconstructing PARIS

She INVENTED our century's MODEL of CELEBRITY, foreshadowing the INFLUENCER ECONOMY along the way. That was HOT, but with a new MEMOIR, a new BABY, and a new PERSPECTIVE on LIFE. PARIS HILTON is DROPPING the ACT.

- EMMA CARMICHAEL

On the day her son was born, Paris Hilton put on a brunette wig and a hoodie and checked into a hospital under a different name. Her platinum-blond hair is one of her many calling cards, and it felt imperative that she go unnoticed. Her baby's impending existence was, at that point, a secret to the rest of the world, known only to Hilton, her husband, Carter Reum, and their surrogate. Even their immediate families would not find out until just before she announced his arrival on Instagram.

"My entire life has been so public," Hilton says over the phone in late January, hovering outside of the baby's nursery and speaking quietly while he naps. "I've never had anything for myself. We decided that we wanted to have this whole experience to ourselves."

Once he'd been cleared to leave the hospital, she and Reum brought their son home, to the house they recently bought in Beverly Hills. For two full days, they were truly alone (they'd told their staff the house was being painted), enjoying the relative quiet of life with a new-born-getting used to his sleeping and feeding schedules and singing him lullabies. (Hilton was partial to "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" as well as her 2006 hit, "Stars Are Blind." "The acoustic version," she clarifies.) Then, when it seemed like the news was about to come out on its own, they broke the spell and announced they'd become parents.