Paris Hilton Leaves Jail

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hotel heiress Paris Hilton left jail on Tuesday in red-carpet Hollywood style, waving and smiling to scores of paparazzi, after serving three weeks for violating probation in a drunken-driving case.
Looking exuberant -- and reportedly several pounds thinner than when she went in -- Hilton sashayed past two rows of reporters and photographers held behind yellow police tape at the Lynwood women's jail just after midnight, before running to a waiting sport utility vehicle to hug her mother, Kathy.
Without saying a word, they left quickly for a Hilton family home in the exclusive enclave of Bel-Air, with several vehicles full of photographers tailing them all the way.
Hilton, who has vowed to change her party-going ways and give new meaning to her life, was set to give her first after jail interview on Wednesday on CNN's "Larry King Live."
The incarceration of the 26-year-old multimillionaire, who lampooned her own persona as a clueless child of privilege on the reality TV show "The Simple Life," ignited a worldwide media frenzy and debate about celebrity justice.

The saga hit a crescendo when Hilton was placed briefly under house arrest after just three days in jail, sparking an uproar over what many saw as preferential treatment. A Los Angeles Times analysis, however, found her sentence far exceeded those served by most inmates for similar offenses.
Her departure from jail on Tuesday was in stark contrast to the scene when a sobbing Hilton was ordered back to her cell earlier this month, crying: "Mom, mom. It is not right."
In the end, Hilton served just over 22 days in detention. The original 45-day term set by the judge was effectively cut in half under a standard credit applied for good behavior.
The celebrity news Web site TMZ.com reported on Tuesday that Hilton lost seven pounds behind bars, despite ordering regular between-meal snacks from the jail commissary, including instant chicken noodle soup, blueberry muffins and peanuts.
According to invoice records obtained by TMZ for one week of her stay, she also bought items including skin cream, eyebrow pencils and cotton swabs, spending $145.32.

SHERIFF VS. PROSECUTOR
The case also led to a rare public showdown between two of Los Angeles' top law enforcement officers -- City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, who prosecuted Hilton, and Sheriff Lee Baca, who oversees the county jail system and moved to "reassign" Hilton to house arrest.
The judge sided with the prosecutor in sending Hilton back to jail to finish her term. But Delgadillo, a rising political star, soon found himself under fire for his own misconduct, including improper use of city resources and revelations that his wife had been the subject of a 9-year-old arrest warrant.
Hilton has spoken in interviews of being transformed by her experience and of feeling that God gave her a second chance.
Her jail time stemmed from her arrest in September on a charge of drunken driving. She pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of alcohol-related reckless driving in January and was sentenced to three years probation.
The next month she was caught driving on a suspended license, which Judge Michael Sauer ruled violated probation.
Hilton surrendered on June 3 to begin her sentence. Days later, Baca released her to house arrest, citing unspecified medical problems that he later described as psychological. Hilton later said she suffers from claustrophobia.
Hilton's probation will end in March 2009 as long as she obeys the law until then, although the judge ruled that she can elect to shave 12 months off that time if she performs 40 hours of community service.

Paris Hilton To Be Released!

After almost a month behind bars, Paris Hilton is expected to be released from jail on Tuesday.
Wednesday night, she will be doing a sit-down interview with Larry King. But, her CNN appearance was not Hilton’s original plan.

"Networks distance themselves from Paris interview"

NEW YORK -- Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca and City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo learned the hard way that decisions involving Paris Hilton bring sharp scrutiny.Her 23-day sentence (and the subsequent controversy over her early release and reimprisonment) unwittingly exposed the overcrowding of L.A. County jails. Now, in the latest example of the odd alchemy worked by the socialite's celebrity, Hilton's attempt to land a lucrative media deal has unintentionally brought discomfiting attention to a practice the networks would rather keep quiet: their willingness to compensate subjects for exclusives.On Friday, executives at ABC, NBC and CBS all said they were no longer interested in interviewing the heiress after a series of conflicting behind-the-scenes negotiations with her family were made public, torpedoing Hilton's efforts to secure a major network interview for her first post-jail sit-down. The abrupt turn-around came coming after intense jostling between the news divisions for an exclusive.Hilton's family triggered the scrutiny this week by telling ABC that NBC was willing to pay close to $1 million for an exclusive upon her release, a story NBC promptly disavowed. But outrage built over the prospect that Hilton could profit from her stint in jail for violating terms of her probation for alcohol-related reckless driving charges.A Hilton spokesman later put out a statement saying she was not being compensated for any interviews.Hilton would not have been the first to profit from such an arrangement. Television news divisions have long found ways to woo prospective interview subjects without paying them directly, whether through posh hotel suites and Broadway tickets or "licensing" fees for home videos."It's the way that the networks have been doing business for years," said Joe Angotti, a former senior vice president at NBC News. "It's always bothered me, and it bothers me more now that I'm out of the business. They feel that it does not cross the line as long as they don't write a check. It's a very fuzzy line, obviously."One longtime network producer familiar with the booking wars said that that most major broadcast interviews involve some form of indirect compensation such as first or business class plane tickets, limousines, and five-star meals."It's all built around the idea of plausible deniability so that extremely reputable journalists can say with a straight face say they didn't pay for the interview," said the producer, who did not want to be quoted by name discussing internal practices. "It's just seen as the cost of doing business. And as the competition has increased: There's been a sense of, 'What more can we do to up the ante?' "Network officials defended their tactics, insisting that paying to use personal footage or putting interview subjects up in hotels does not amount to checkbook journalism."NBC News doesn't pay for interviews, period," said Allison Gollust, a spokeswoman for the news division. "There are situations in any news story where the licensing of material is part of the booking, but I think everyone understands what is reasonable and what's not."Earlier this week, ABC executives said they had lost their bid for an exclusive with Hilton to Meredith Vieira, co-anchor of NBC's "Today" show. Hilton's camp indicated that NBC had offered the family a better deal: a licensing fee between $750,000 and $1 million for the use of personal videos and photos, besting ABC's offer of $100,000.But when news of the negotiations leaked out, NBC said it had no commitment from Hilton and would not pay for an interview. However, the network continued to negotiate behind the scenes for a sit-down that did not include any form of payment, according to an NBC source.At the same time, the jailed socialite and her family — apparently fearful of losing a major network interview altogether — frantically sought to secure a deal with ABC's Barbara Walters.The lobbying took the form of a flurry of late-night phone calls. Just before midnight Friday on the East coast, Paris' mother, Kathy, a friendly acquaintance of the ABC anchor, called Walters her at home and said that the 26-year-old wanted to do the interview with Walters, no strings attached.Then around 2 a.m., Walters received a call from Paris Hilton herself."She expressed her regret that all kinds of negotiations seemed to have gone outside her control and she only wanted to do this with Barbara," said the ABC executive, who did not want to be identified discussing internal matters.In the morning, Walters received another message in her office from Hilton's father, Rick, reiterating the family's interest in having her do the story.Irked by the machinations, Walters and her producer David Sloan decided against it.Hours later, NBC News — which had told "Dateline" employees in its Burbank office to prepare for a possible interview with Hilton after her expected release Monday — also pulled itself out of contention. Late Friday afternoon, Gollust said that network executives had informed Hilton's camp that NBC was no longer interested. CBS News took the same stance.The socialite could still find a platform with a cable personality like CNN's Larry King. Christa Robinson, a spokeswoman for the cable news channel, had no comment on whether CNN was trying to book Hilton, but emphasized that the network does not pay for interviews. Rival Fox News said that they were not in formal talks with Hilton, but did not preclude doing a sit-down.If all fails, there's at least one interviewer who's apparently still interested in Hilton: Ryan Seacrest, who interviewed the heiress from jail Thursday via phone for E! News. No compensation was involved, he said."I just realize that the media used me to make fun of and be mean about it," Hilton told Seacrest, saying that she is "frankly sick of it, and I want to use my fame in a good way.""I think that God makes everything happen for a reason," she added, "and this is my time to figure out what my purpose is in life."

"ABC Says It Was Outbid for Paris Hilton Interview"

How much is an interview with Paris Hilton worth? Representatives of ABC News said yesterday that they had lost to NBC for the first interview with Paris Hilton after her release from jail next week because ABC was unwilling to make a “high six-figure deal” with Ms. Hilton’s family.
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Los Angeles County Sheriff, via Associated Press
Paris Hilton, in jail in California, was said to prefer Meredith Vieira.
NBC executives did not deny that they had had discussions about interview rights with Ms. Hilton, though the news division said yesterday that it could not yet confirm any interview would take place.
The spokeswoman for NBC News, Allison Gollust, insisted, however, that “NBC News does not pay for interviews — never have, never will.”
ABC representatives said they had been given the background on the negotiations by their correspondent, Barbara Walters, who had been in the middle of talks with the Hilton family to secure the interview for the network. Ms. Walters herself declined to comment.
According to the ABC representatives, who asked not to be further identified because they were not authorized to reveal details of the negotiations, ABC had agreed to pay $100,000 to the Hilton family in a deal for the interview. The deal would have included access to materials owned by the family, like photographs or videos of Ms. Hilton.
Deals involving payment for production materials, not for the interviews themselves, have become increasingly common as networks seek to secure exclusive arrangements with prominent people.
Ms. Walters told ABC executives that Ms. Hilton’s father, Rick Hilton, after getting the ABC offer last Sunday, called back Wednesday to say that the interview would go to a competitor, because at $100,000 ABC was “not even in the same galaxy” in terms of what was being offered.
When pressed, Mr. Hilton acknowledged that NBC was the other network involved, the ABC representatives said, and that Meredith Vieira, co-host of NBC’s “Today” program, would conduct the interview.
Last night, though, the story took a new turn. The Hiltons’ representative said that despite ABC’s account, the family had not received nor requested any payment for an interview with Paris Hilton. Michael Sitrick, a crisis manager hired by the Hiltons, issued a statement saying, “Contrary to media reports, Paris Hilton is not being paid for any television interview nor is Paris Hilton being paid for any collateral material, including videos or photos.”
The bidding for the interview with Ms. Hilton is nothing new in the hypercompetitive world of the network morning news shows. NBC’s “Today” and ABC’s “Good Morning America” have struggled fiercely for more than a decade to book the most prominent newsmakers and celebrities, often engaging in one-upmanship stunts to secure subjects — known in the trade as “gets” — who might spike the ratings for their programs.
“Good Morning America,” habitually running second to “Today” — the NBC program recently recorded its 600th consecutive week as the morning leader — has been intensely aggressive in chasing such interviews in recent months, led by an anchor, Diane Sawyer. She has secured several highly sought interviews, including one recently with Andrew Speaker, a lawyer who flew widely overseas despite having a rare tuberculosis infection.
Seeking to counter the impact from that coup, NBC made a strong tactical move: it removed advertising from the weakest-rated portion of “Today” that morning, meaning that part of the show would not be rated at all.
ABC News in turn suggested that the move proved NBC was getting panicky that “Today” might lose its edge over “Good Morning America” just as the “NBC Nightly News” has fallen from its longtime leadership to second place behind ABC’s “World News Tonight.”
Ms. Gollust dismissed that suggestion, saying, “We would have crushed them in the ratings that week even without doing that.”
More recently, NBC won the rights to an exclusive interview with Prince William and Prince Harry of Britain. That interview was also part of a larger deal; NBC paid a reported $2 million for American rights to broadcast a concert in honor of their late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.
Before the deal for Paris Hilton fell through this week, Ms. Walters had positioned herself to win the first interview after her release from incarceration. She had already had the only conversation with Ms. Hilton from jail, as she reported on her program “The View.”
The ABC representatives said that Ms. Walters was in frequent contact with Ms. Hilton’s family, as well as with Mr. Sitrick.
Ms. Walters reported to ABC that the Hilton representatives at first asked that she submit questions in advance for the interview, which she replied she was forbidden to do by ABC News. Then, she said, the Hilton people came back asking for the high six-figure fee for the interview.
After responding with the $100,000 offer, ABC waited to hear back from them. When Ms. Walters got a call this week, she told ABC, she received the news that ABC was not getting the interview.
As ABC representatives described the conversation, Mr. Hilton told Ms. Walters, “It is a money issue.” He was also reported to have said that Paris Hilton had made the decision to go with NBC and that she had chosen to speak with Meredith Vieira and not Matt Lauer because she believed that Mr. Lauer had previously made remarks about her she considered disparaging.
Ms. Walters questioned the decision, the ABC representatives said, noting that the Hilton side previously emphasized that Ms. Hilton’s credibility was the paramount issue in the decision to be interviewed. But ABC said Mr. Hilton replied, “Nobody turns down money like this.”
An actual amount was not discussed, but Ms. Walters told ABC that based on her previous conversations with the Hilton representatives, she believed that the offer from NBC surpassed $750,000.
NBC executives would not confirm yesterday that they had any agreement with Ms. Hilton at all.

Sources:

perezhilton.com

nytimes.com

Paris Hilton Interviewed By Ryan Seacrest

Jail has been "horrible and really hard" for Paris Hilton, but she's ready to turn the page and begin a new chapter in her life as a changed woman. In an exclusive phone conversation with E! News' Ryan Seacrest Thursday, the hotel heiress said she was "really proud" of herself for serving out her sentence and even admitted there was a positive aspect to life behind bars."In a way, I'm really glad this happened, because it changed my life forever," Hilton said in a nearly 10-minute call from Century Regional Correctional Facility.According to the newly reformed party girl, her days of serving as a pop-culture punchline are over."I just realize that the media used me to make fun of and be mean about," she said. "Frankly, I'm sick of it. I want to use my fame in a good way."She said her time on the inside has made her far more appreciative of life's little luxuries."I'm so much more grateful for everything that I have, even just to have a pillow at night or food or anything," Hilton said.As someone accustomed to far more commodious digs, Hilton acknowledged that her initial days in jail were difficult, confirming, as first reported by E! Online, that she suffers from claustrophobia."I'm claustrophobic, and my cell is really small. It's hard. There's nothing to do but basically sit. A room with a bunkbed and a toilet and a desk," she said."I was going a little bit crazy in the beginning. I'm getting used to it now."Now, with just days left on her sentence, Hilton said she's "really proud" of herself for making it through and is looking forward to what lies ahead."I feel like I can't wait to start a new chapter of my life. It feels really great even though I really don't like it here," she said.As for what she plans to do when she gets out, Hilton has only simple pleasures on her mind."I just can't wait to see my family and have a nice meal and be in my own bed and appreciate all the things I took for granted and never really thought much about," she said.Hilton is expected to be set free on Monday, which will mark the 23rd day of her 45-day sentence for violating her probation on an alcohol-related driving charge.It's possible that her time behind bars has made the Simple Life star even more popular. Her manager, Jason Moore, confirmed to E! News that he was contacted by the Lynwood facility about picking up 20 crates of fan mail, adding up to thousands of letters for the jailbird heiress.Hilton is making use of her free time to read and respond to some of her mail, as evidenced by a handwritten note to a fan that was obtained Tuesday by E! Online. (See the letter.)She said she was amazed and moved by the sheer volume of mail she has received over the court of her jail sentence, and that reading the messages of support was the best part of her day."I'll reread the letters, and I literally cry. It fills my heart and my soul," she said. "So much love. I had no idea there were that many people who cared."Though Hilton is undoubtedly counting down the seconds until her release, her neighbors are evidently less enthusiastic about her homecoming party.A group of residents in the hotel namesake's Hollywood Hills enclave has been circulating a petition encouraging neighbors to call police and local officials if traffic and noise conditions become problematic due to the swarm of paparazzi that will no doubt converge on the area.Meanwhile, the big broadcasters have already begun jockeying for a piece of the allegedly spiritually awakened socialite. The New York Post reports that NBC has agreed to pay as much as $1 million for the first postjail sit-down with Hilton, which will reportedly be conducted by Meredith Vieira. (The network had no comment, while Hilton rep Elliot Mintz said he could not "confirm or deny" the report.)ABC was said to be put out by the decision, having expected Hilton to select her phone pal Barbara Walters for the interview. However, having already given the View denmother an earful via collect call, Hilton was apparently ready to discuss her time served with someone new.As Hilton's jail sentence winds down, Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, the official chiefly responsible for putting her behind bars, has come under fire for staying mum about a 2004 accident in which his wife, Michelle, crashed his city-issued vehicle while driving on a suspended license.Earlier in the week, Delgadillo admitted he made a mistake and said he had written a check to reimburse the city for the $1,222 repair, saying that it was "the right thing to do.""I mishandled the situation and I apologize," Delgadillo said at a news conference Monday.However, he maintained that his wife's violation was not comparable to Hilton's crime."Paris Hilton was driving drunk, was on probation…She violated that probation more than once," he said. "My wife had a suspended license and then she received a ticket. She was never driving drunk."Of course, as Hilton tells it, neither was she.Immediately following the September traffic stop that marked the start of her troubles, Hilton placed a call to Seacrest on his morning radio show to explain that her DUI arrest was simply the result of driving on an empty stomach after downing a single margarita."I was just really hungry and wanted to have an In-N-Out Burger," she said at the time, admitting that she was maybe "speeding a little" as she drove to the nearest fast-food outlet but denying that she had been at all intoxicated."Everything I do is blown out of proportion," she complained. "It really hurts my feelings."

Ellen DeGeneres and Al Gore Gang Up on Paris Hilton

Comedienne Ellen DeGeneres is disgusted that people continue to admire Paris Hilton even after she openly confessed that she was 'dumb'. After Paris re-entered jail for violating probation she admitted: 'I used to act dumb. That act is no longer cute.' She may want to keep it up as not only is Ellen fed up so is Al Gore.
Ellen DeGeneres and Al Gore Gang Up on Paris HiltonDeGeneres says: 'She's not getting anywhere doing that. If that really is an act, if she really was playing dumb, than what does that say about our society that we're celebrating someone who was successful because they're not smart?

Adds Al Gore: "The planet is in distress and all of the attention is on Paris Hilton. We have to ask ourselves what is going on here." He says he is struggling to get his message across when TV networks are donating the majority of their airtime to American socialite Paris Hilton’s stint behind bars. Poor Al.Perhaps Al should employ Paris to get his 'Chicken Little' fear mongering we are all doomed message out. Paris could be 'Miss Live Earth' 2007. Gore is planning a slew of concerts to promote his version of the global warming doom. Poor Paris, she now has Ellen and Al gore ganging up on her.

Paris, Still a Covergirl

DISPLAYING ABSTRACT - PARIS HILTON, through no fault of her own, appears on the covers of two fashion magazines hitting newsstands this month. One is a straightforward friendly endorsement of Ms. Hilton's celebrity: the June issue of Harper's Bazaar, where she appears with erstwhile best friend Nicole Richie, both in Chanel tweed ...

Paris Hilton Update

Keeping pace with the torrent of developments in the life of martyred socialite and pastry chef muse Paris Hilton has become next to impossible lately. We therefore offer the following compendium of the day's most noteworthy events:· Transferred last night out of the Twin Towers medical ward in downtown L.A. (a place nicknamed "The Dings," where the 200 inmates are called "dingbats"), Paris is currently under observation in Lynwood's far cozier medical unit, where she'll stay until officials determine she's ready to return to her original, solitary confinement cell. Oh--and she's still "a mess." · In order to determine if Hilton was serving a fair amount of time for her crime, the LAT analyzed 2 million cases (surely securing them next year's Pulitzer), and determined the heiress is serving a harsher sentence than 80% of those who had committed comparable offenses.

Paris Hilton Jailed Again!

After all we've been through today, we really don't have the strength to plow through yet another update, but we should note that a judge has ordered the controversially home-jailed Hilton to appear in court tomorrow morning, where the city attorney and a representative of the L.A. County Sheriff's Department will each grab one of the heiress's arms and pull with all their might, with control of the prisoner's fate awarded to whichever party winds up holding the larger piece of mangled heiress. Should be fun!
But who wants to linger on such nastiness when there are far more interesting things going on around town, like the couple who spent all afternoon screwing on their balcony at the Hyatt Century Plaza, putting on a free show that kept those with a view from the nearby MGM building from getting anything done? We mention this mostly because we haven't been offered a single cameraphone shot of the hott, balcony-boning action, and that makes us profoundly sad. Sometimes we need a little more than some pictures of skywriting to help us get through a long day.

The Reason Why Paris Hilton is Released

fr: defamer.com

[Note: A thrilling UPDATE after the jump!] We at Defamer realize that there's no way that our readers can be expected to continue on with their day with an explanation for Paris Hilton's unexpected release from prison as maddeningly vague as "an unspecified medical condition" hanging in the air, and so in the interest of restoring you to productivity, we note this anonymously sourced explanation of the heiress's mystery malady:
Sources close to the Hilton family tell ET the medical reason was actually a rash she developed on her body.

Paris Hilton Released fr Jail

Well, that was fast: After serving five lifestyle-cramping days at Lynwood's Century Regional Detention Facility, Paris Hilton has been released from the jail to serve out the remaining 40 days of her original sentence at home, monitored by one of those unflattering, Martha Stewart-style electronic ankle bracelets, which she's already busy bedazzling with Swarovski crystals to minimize its impact on her cutest home-confinement outfits. Unspecified medical reasons were cited for the early release; while confidentiality laws prohibited a sheriff's department from disclosing the exact problem, he did allow that she may have been "psychologically bummed" about her imprisonment and that the facility's staff feared the humiliating intake body cavity search she was subjected to may have permanently extinguished the impish glimmer in her lazy eye, prompting the hasty change of venue.
More on this story when information becomes available as the day progresses, God help us all.
UPDATE: Would you like to see a brief local news clip of the nice man at the press conference who announced announcing that Hilton was reassigned to the "community-based alternative to custody electronic monitoring program." Of course you would. After the jump:

Paris Hilton Surrenders

Destroying our secret hope that Paris Hilton's surrender to authorities would take place following a high speed chase in which the desperate heiress piled her menagerie of neglected pets into her Maybach and made a bold sprint for the Mexican border, it seems that Hilton's last moments of freedom played out relatively uneventfully