Paris Hilton Says Her 2004 Sex Tape Leak Mirrors Today’s AI Deepfake Crisis: ‘Newest Form of Victimization’ | Video

Paris Hilton compared the trauma she faced after the leak of her early 2000s sex tape to the current AI deepfake crisis, which she said she’s been victimized by.

The reality TV star and heiress advocated on behalf of the Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non-Consensual Edits Act, also known as the DEFIANCE Act, on Thursday while visiting Capitol Hill. While championing the bill, Hilton recalled the abuse she faced in the aftermath of the nude video’s release, noting that, like what often times occurs with AI deepfakes, it was posted without her consent.

“When I was 19 years old, a private, intimate video of me was shared with the world without my consent,” Hilton said. “People called it a scandal. It wasn’t. It was abuse. There were no laws at the time to protect me. There weren’t even words for what had been done to me. The internet was still new, and so was the cruelty that came with it.”

As Hilton went on, she recalled being called names and being the punchline to many jokes.

“They sold my pain for clicks, and then they told me to be quiet, to move on, to even be grateful for the attention,” she continued. “These people didn’t see me as a young woman who had been exploited. They didn’t see the panic that I felt, the humiliation or the shame. No one asked me what I lost — I lost control over my body, over my reputation. My sense of safety and self-worth was stolen from me”

Per Hilton, in the two decades since the video came out, she thought “the worst was behind [her.]” Yet, with rise of AI, Hilton learned firsthand that couldn’t be further from the truth.

“What happened to me then is happening now to millions of women and girls in a new and more terrifying way,” she added. “Before, someone had to betray your trust and steal something real. Now all it takes is a computer and a stranger’s imagination. Deepfake pornography has become an epidemic.”

AI-generated deepfake pornography is "the newest form of victimization happening at scale, to your daughters, your sisters, your friends and neighbors," Paris Hilton said on Thursday as she spoke in support of the DEFIANCE Act. https://t.co/Zt3qgYaESx pic.twitter.com/0zCbZudl8Y— ABC News (@ABC) January 22, 2026

According to Hilton, she has been victimized by 100,000 explicit deepfake images thanks to AI.

“Not one of them is real, not one of them is consensual. And each time a new one appears, that horrible feeling returns, that fear that someone somewhere is looking at it right now and thinking it’s real,” Hilton shared. “No amount of money or lawyers can stop it or protect me from more. It’s the newest form of victimization happening at scale, to your daughters, your sisters, your friends and neighbors.” Watch her remarks above.

The DEFIANCE Act, if passed, would allow for victims to sue creators and distributors over nonconsensual, sexually explicit AI deepfakes.

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