Paris Hilton Opens Up About Her Mental Health Struggle, Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria

Paris Hilton has revealed she lives with a condition that makes criticism feel like physical torture, describing it as a demon inside her head that amplifies every perceived slight into unbearable emotional pain.

The 44-year-old entrepreneur opened up about her mental health during an appearance on Dear Media's podcast The Him and Her Show, where she told hosts Lauryn and Michael Bosstick that she suffers from rejection sensitive dysphoria. The condition, which is closely linked to the ADHD she was diagnosed with in her late 20s, causes intense emotional reactions to real or perceived criticism. The episode aired on 26 January, according to People.

What Is Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria?

Rejection sensitive dysphoria, or RSD, is not formally listed in the DSM-5 but is widely recognised by clinicians who work with neurodivergent patients. The Cleveland Clinic describes it as an extreme emotional response to criticism or rejection that people often find difficult to control, with symptoms ranging from overwhelming sadness to sudden anger to an intense fear of failure.

Research suggests the condition affects up to 99 per cent of people with ADHD to some degree, though many go their entire lives without realising it has a name. Hilton was one of them. She admitted she had no idea RSD existed until she started speaking with others who share her diagnosis, and that learning to distinguish between genuine problems and RSD-fuelled spirals took her years to master.

How The 2000s Became 'Extremely Painful'

The Simple Life star traced her mental health struggles back to the relentless tabloid coverage she endured at the peak of her fame, when paparazzi followed her every move and gossip magazines dissected her personal life for sport. Dealing with that level of scrutiny while unknowingly suffering from both ADHD and RSD made the era, in her words, extremely painful.

Growing up in the 1990s, nobody talked about ADHD the way they do today. Hilton said she struggled constantly in school, losing homework and getting into trouble with teachers, but rather than recognising that her brain simply processed information differently, she internalised the message that something was fundamentally wrong with her. For years, she masked those feelings, putting on a brave face while quietly convinced she was broken.

From Struggle To Superpower

These days, Hilton has flipped the narrative. She now credits her ADHD with fuelling the entrepreneurial instincts that helped her build a fragrance empire worth more than £2 billion ($2.5 billion) in sales since 2004, as well as founding her media company 11:11, Business Insider reported.

Where others see a scattered mind, Hilton sees a competitive advantage. Her brain zigzags between ideas rather than moving in straight lines, allowing her to spot trends early and take risks that more cautious thinkers avoid. That unconventional wiring is how she built an empire spanning fragrance, fashion, media, and music.

Spreading The Message

Hilton has spent the past year throwing herself into neurodiversity advocacy. In October 2025, she partnered with Understood.org to launch Inclusive by Design, a video series showing how she adapted her home and office to work with her ADHD rather than against it.

The difficult parts have not disappeared. She still loses her phone constantly, acts on impulse, and lies awake because her brain refuses to switch off. But after decades of believing those traits made her defective, she has come to see them as the price of admission for the creativity that built her career.

The mother of two said she wants to change how society talks about ADHD entirely, so that young girls facing the same struggles will understand far sooner that their brains are not broken. They just work differently, and that difference can become their greatest strength.