Paris Hilton Fires Her Veteran Publicist Elliot Mintz
In her first public comments since a prison sentence, celebrity heiress and reality TV star Paris Hilton has described her 45-day jail term for a driving related offense as cruel and unwarranted.
She also fired her spokesman, veteran publicist Elliot Mintz, whom she blamed for getting her into the mess.
Visibly shocked and tearful, Hilton was sentenced on Friday to 45 days in jail after a judge ruled she knowingly violated her probation on a previous traffic offense by driving without a valid licence.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Sauer rejected the 26-year-old socialite’s defense that she didn’t realise her licence was suspended and ordered her to report to a county detention facility on June 5.
“I told the truth,” Hilton told photographers waiting outside her Los Angeles home on Saturday night.
“I feel that I was treated unfairly and that the sentence is both cruel and unwarranted. I don’t deserve this.”
Her lawyer, Howard Weitzman, has said he will appeal “to modify the sentence.”
Hilton’s mother Kathy voiced her anger at the ruling over the weekend. “This is pathetic and disgusting, a waste of taxpayers’ money with this nonsense. It is a joke,” she told Hollywood.com.
But regardless of how she handles it, experts say she’ll be more popular than ever.
“It will actually increase her star appeal in a very sick and demented way,'’ said longtime publicist Michael Levine.
“There’s a segment of our society that’s somehow engaged in the soap opera that is Paris Hilton, and this a very compelling plot line in the soap opera.'’
“If she wants to put this behind her and come off looking remorseful or repentant, then she should just serve her time as quietly as possible,'’ said Roger Gillott, whose public relations firm, Gillott Communications, specialises in crisis management.
“The more she protests, the more she claims she was innocent and doesn’t know what she’s doing, that she never reads her legal papers, the more she portrays an image of someone who doesn’t pay close attention and thinks they are above being held accountable.'’
The 26-year-old hotel heiress, who parlayed her party lifestyle into worldwide fame, told the judge that she didn’t have time to talk with her attorneys about her probation.
“I’m a very busy person,'’ she said.
That dismissive attitude is part of her appeal, said veteran publicist David Brokaw.
“The premise of her fame is being naughty,'’ he said. “This is a career move for her. It simply fuels the fascination. She can only win with this.'’
Hilton’s fans began sending messages of support as news of the jail term spread. One fan, Joshua Capone, wrote to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger asking him to intervene and keep Hilton out of jail.
“She provides hope for young people all over the US and the world. She provides beauty and excitement to (most of) our otherwise mundane lives,” Capone wrote in a letter to Schwarzenegger posted online on Hilton’s myspace page.
Hilton quickly responded on her myspace page.
“I just want to thank Joshua so much for his kind words of love and support. God Bless. Love Paris.”
At the hearing, the star of the reality TV show The Simple Life said she was unaware her driving privileges had been completely suspended when police stopped her for driving without headlights on February 27. They impounded her blue Bentley after discovering she was driving on a suspended licence.
Hilton said her publicist had told her she was permitted to drive for work-related reasons after the first 30 days of her licence suspension late last November, and she relied on that.
Hilton was sentenced in January to three years probation after pleading no contest - the equivalent of a guilty plea - to alcohol-related reckless driving last September.
Sydney Morning Herald
