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Paris Hilton Says She Invented the Selfie, No Shade to the Kardashians
Well, maybe a little shade.
Anyone who's lived through the early aughts remembers the media force of Paris Hilton. Love her or hate her, she definitely set the stage for a lot of the things we take for granted as normal now, like being a celebrity for no discernible reason and building on that celebrity until you have a business empire. And she did all of this before the days of Instagram. In a new interview with W Magazine, Paris says she not only invented the concept of being an “influencer” before the word existed, but that she also invented the selfie.
“If a beeper had a camera, I would have taken a selfie with it,” said Paris. “I think I have a selfie from when I was a little kid, like on a disposable camera.”
Hmm, we probably all did, but not all of us went on to make our self love a marketable commodity. In the interview, Paris says she was a pioneer for women like Kim Kardashian, without immediately naming names.
“We started a whole new genre of celebrity that no one had ever seen before,” she said, adding, “Nowadays, I feel like it’s so easy becoming famous. Anybody with a phone can do it.”
Kim was actually Paris’ assistant for awhile, and you have to wonder if with all this talk of selfies, Paris might secretly resent her former protegée. Kim has definitely lapped Paris on the fame and fortune front. But as it turns out, she only had nice things to say.
"I've known the family my whole life,” Paris said. “They are all intelligent, beautiful business women and I'm proud of them and the brand they've built.”
But she also mentioned how Kendall Jenner, at least, is now copycatting her style from the early 2000s, and Kylie Jenner is bringing back Juicy Couture on Instagram, once Paris' signature brand.
“To now see things on the runway, and to see girls wearing things that I used to wear is really cool because nobody really dressed like me back in the day,” said Paris. She also discussed how reality TV has changed from the time she and Nicole Richie were making a scene across Middle America on The Simple Life.
“Nowadays, everything is just so scripted and fake,” she said. “Everything is planned out. There’s nothing real, really. I’m glad that I did it in the beginning when it was organic and fun.”
Paris did everything better before everyone else did it and don't you forget it!
