8 How To Make Money Through Fashion Blogging and Influencing

Paris Hilton's Bonkers Net Worth Comes From Lucrative Side Hustles

It's Paris Hilton's world, and you're just living in it. Sister to Nicky, daughter of Kathy, and great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton, Paris has been lighting up television screens and gracing magazine pages since the early 2000s. Juicy sweatsuits would not be the same without her, and you know it.



The Hilton hotels heiress, 40, has never been shy about showing off her lavish lifestyle. Now, her new show on Netflix, Cooking With Paris, is giving fans a deeper look into her inner circle of family and friends.

But even though she's a Hilton, Paris' many pairs of sunglasses and massive bank account don't come from her family name. (As the heiress would say, "That's hot.") So just how does she rake in the dough?

Here's everything to know about Paris Hilton's net worth and the many, many side hustles that helped her get there:

Paris might be an heiress, but there wasn't much of a fortune for her to inherit.

The Hilton fortune is massive—around $4.5 billion, according to Reuters. But Paris' grandfather, Barron Hilton, announced his plans to donate 97% of his money to charity back in 2004.

When Barron died in 2019, he left 3% of his money to his eight grandchildren, his 15 grandchildren, and his four great-grandchildren, per Insider. The 3% came to around $135 million total, per Celebrity Net Worth. That's no small sum, though. Split evenly, Paris would get $5.6 million. The rest of the money was donated to the Conrad N. Hilton foundation, at Barron's request.

There were even rumors floating around that Paris had been cut out of her grandfather's will entirely. He wasn't exactly a fan of Paris' many scandals and thought she was an embarrassment to the Hilton family name, per Celebrity Net Worth.

It all seems to have worked out the way Paris wanted, anyway: "Ever since I was a teenager, I wanted to be independent. I didn't want to have to ask my family for anything," she told Refinery 29 back in 2018.

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"Yes, I came from Hilton hotels, but I've parlayed it into such a huge business that even my grandfather said to me, 'I used to be known as Barron Hilton. Now I'm known as Paris Hilton's grandfather.'"

She started modeling in the late 1990s.

After working as a child model and then breaking into the New York City scene as a socialite in her teens, Paris signed with Donald Trump's agency, T Management, in 2000. She walked in New York Fashion Week shows for different designers and built a decent modeling career, per Insider.

Paris would go on to model for brands like Guess and Christian Dior, and she occasionally revisits her runway roots (like when she modeled for Kanye West's Yeezy 6 Collection in 2018). All of those early modeling gigs likely helped get her bank account get off the ground.

Then, Paris won some cash in court from her sex tape scandal.

After Paris' sex tape was leaked in 2003, her legal battle was long and very public. "That was just the most painful experience. It made me really lose faith in love and trust and men and it just really breaks my heart that for the rest of my life I'm going to be judged on a private moment between two people that no one was ever supposed to see," she said recently, per Mirror.

At the end of it all, Paris walked away with around $400,000, per Insider.

Paris starred in The Simple Life for four years.

Paris' first TV show, The Simple Life, aired from 2003 to 2007. The Fox reality series followed Paris and her BFF, fellow socialite Nicole Richie, as they attempted to navigate a very different world than they were familiar with.

The show received excellent ratings and cemented Paris' status as an early queen of reality TV. In 2005, it was reported that Paris made $5 million just for doing one season of the show. That was much higher than what Nicole was apparently offered, per People.

After The Simple Life, Paris went on to star in a few other less successful reality series. Most of her other shows only lasted for a season or two, including The World According to Paris. It's unclear how much she made for these shows, but since a four-episode guest role on a Danish version of the show Paradise Hotel netted Paris a cool $300,000 in 2013, it's likely her TV career made her a pretty large sum, per Radar.

In 2004, Paris published her first book.

Confessions of an Heiress: A Tongue-in-Cheek Peek Behind the Pose came out in 2004 and instantly became a New York Times bestseller. Just one year later, Paris followed up with a second book, Your Heiress Diary: Confess It All To Me.

Her books retail for anywhere from $11 to $36. They been in print for around 15 years, so it's likely that Paris has made a pretty penny from her brief stint as an author.

Paris also started releasing perfumes that same year.

A large part of Paris' net worth comes from her fragrance empire. And what an empire it is. She has 24 perfumes so far, according to Money.

Since 2004, Paris' perfumes have reportedly earned a massive $3 billion in revenue. Her fragrances are the second most successful line of celebrity perfume ever, behind only Elizabeth Taylor.

Paris' perfumes are her pride and joy, she told Money: "I couldn't just have one! The fans want more, so we have to meet their demands. I might have 100 one day," she said.

Paris also went on to earn some cash from her catchphrases.

Paris cashed in on her famous catchphrases from The Simple Life, including "sliving" (a combination of "slaying" and "living") and "that's hot." In 2007, she sued Hallmark, the greeting card company, for printing "that's hot" next to her picture on a card. The suit was settled in Paris' favor three years later for an undisclosed large sum, per CNBC.

In 2006, Paris sang her way up the charts with her debut album, Paris.

After launching her own label, Heiress Records, Paris' released her debut album, Paris, in 2006. The album sold 200,000 copies and even made it to No. 6 on the Billboard 200. Her single, "Stars Are Blind," hit No. 18 on the Hot 100, per Billboard.

Since then, Paris has dropped nine other promotional singles, but she hasn't made any other albums yet. It's unclear just how much Paris has made from her pop star career, but all of those copies sold likely equals a large payday.

Then, Paris switched gears and made millions as a DJ.

After book deals, TV shows, and a successful pop album, Paris tested out the DJ scene. In 2012, Paris made her DJ debut at a pop music festival in Brazil, per Billboard.

She won awards for her performances, accepted a residency at Harrah's in Atlantic City in 2014, and embarked on a 13-show tour later that year.

By 2015, she was the world's highest-paid DJ, making over $1 million per set, according to The Guardian.

And she makes plenty of moolah from brand deals.

Paris' 19 product lines make her around $10 million per year, according to The Daily Mail. Her name appears on everything from real estate to supplements to flowers, not to mention 50 retail stores around the world, per Bloomberg.

She's also appeared in plenty of commercials, like her famous ads for Carl's Jr. in 2014. But Paris is very specific about who she likes to do business with. Her manager says she turns down anywhere between 12 and 20 brand partnerships every day, per The Guardian. Of course, the deals she does accept also help pad her funds.

Over the years, she's also earned acting credits in movies and TV shows.

Paris pivoted from reality TV to dozens of scripted roles on screen. She's starred in films like House of Wax and had smaller roles in movies like Zoolander and The Cat in the Hat, although details on her acting salary are slim.

As far as television, Paris guest starred in episodes of some pretty well-known shows, including Supernatural, The O.C., and Veronica Mars.

Now, you can hire Paris to appear at your party for $$$.

When she's not modeling, DJing, or running her many companies, Paris charges "appearance fees" to show up at parties. For $300,000, she'll appear at your party, although she'll probably leave in less than two hours, per the Daily Mail.

And her new cooking show, Cooking With Paris, just dropped on Netflix.

Paris is an executive producer on her new show, Cooking With Paris, which she decided to bring to life after a YouTube video starring her in the kitchen got 5 million views. With plenty of celeb guests, including Kim Kardashian and Nikki Glaser, her show became an instant hit on the streaming service.

"It's definitely not your average cooking show," Paris told Delish. "I'm not a professional or trained chef, so I'm learning a lot in the kitchen as I go." No word yet on how much it's adding to her funds, though.

Next up, Paris and her fiancè will star in Paris in Love.

The new wedding show, coming to Peacock soon, will follow Paris and her fiancè, Carter Reum, as they plan their big day together, per Delish. "He's like no one I've ever met in my life before, the first person that I've let into my heart that I trust completely. He's my biggest supporter and just lifts me up and makes me feel so safe," Paris said about her new beau.

"Now, I'm more focused on babies than billions," she added.

So, what is Paris Hilton's net worth?

Paris' many side hustles all add up to a net worth of around $300 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. Her bank account is set to grow even more with her new show and lucrative business deals churning out the checks. Yep, that's hot.

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