Paris Hilton floored social media users this week by seamlessly shifting her vocal register midsentence as she spoke before Congress.
The hotel heiress, reality TV trailblazer and DJ testified Wednesday about the abuse she witnessed, and experienced herself, at so-called troubled teen centers where she was sent in her youth. Hilton urged lawmakers to reauthorize child welfare legislation that expired in fiscal year 2021, and to pass the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act, a measure meant to bolster oversight of residential youth programs.
One moment from Hilton’s powerful testimony has gone especially viral on X, formerly Twitter.
When Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.) asked Hilton for her thoughts on incorporating mental health care into new legislation, Hilton responded first by complimenting the lawmaker’s outfit.
“I love your jacket. The sparkles are amazing,” Hilton said.
Tenney joked, “I had a little bling here for today,” to which Hilton replied, “Yes, I wanted to find out who made it later.”
Hilton delivered her fashion comments in a relatively high voice with lots of vocal fry. However, as she continued speaking and began to discuss mental health care, her voice shifted to a noticeably deeper register.
“But I think the most important thing is, they need access to therapy counseling, mentorship and other community-based programs,” she said, with her voice dropping on the word “but.”
Hilton has spoken out in recent years about moving away from her signature “baby voice.” The voice was an integral part of her “dumb blond” persona on 2000s reality show “The Simple Life,” and was famously parodied on the sitcom “30 Rock” with a “sexy baby” character in 2011.
But Hilton has since revealed that’s not how she sounds in her everyday existence.
“I actually have a low voice in real life,” she said on the “Today” show in 2016.
Hilton, who also demonstrated her voice-changing abilities in the 2020 documentary “This Is Paris,” told ITV’s “This Morning” last year that her baby-voice persona functioned as “kind of a mask” for her, since she’s “naturally shy.”
Still, footage of Hilton’s congressional testimony garnered lots of strong reactions this week, both from those who had never heard her real voice and from longtime fans impressed by her quick change in register.