Paris Hilton testifies before a House of Representatives committee

Paris Hilton has spoken out about her past experiences of abuse and continues to fight for laws that better protect children from institutional violence.

On Wednesday, the actress, singer, DJ and model said she will “be a voice for the children whose voices cannot be heard” and “will not stop until America’s youth are safe,” calling on Congress to take action to protect the well-being of children in the testimony at a House committee hearing Wednesday.

Appearing before the House Ways and Means Committee at a hearing on foster care and the reauthorization of Title IV-B of the Social Security Act — which provides states with funds to promote child care — Hilton said that “families need resources and support so they can they don’t have to go into the child welfare system at all.”

Hilton is an outspoken advocate for child welfare issues, and previously spoke in her 2020 documentary “This is Paris” and her 2023 memoir “Paris: The Memoir” that she experienced physical and emotional abuse at school with boarding school for troubled teenagers.

She said she still suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from her time in the institution.

She testified Wednesday about her experience, telling the committee that when she was 16, “I was dragged out of bed in the middle of the night and taken across state lines to the first of four youth treatment centers.”

“I was force-fed drugs and sexually abused by staff. I was brutally restrained and dragged through the corridors, stripped naked and thrown into solitary confinement. “My parents were completely deceived – lied to and manipulated by this for-profit industry regarding the inhumane treatment I experienced,” she said.

“So can you just imagine the experience of young people being placed by the state and not having regular check-ups?”

“As a mom, these stories break my heart,” Hilton, now a mother of two, also said during the hearing.

Hilton has visited Washington in the past to advocate for child safety, including a 2022 visit during which, according to a White House official, she met with White House policy staff and other survivors to discuss “protection issues America’s institutionalized youth.”

“I will never forget what I experienced in those places,” Hilton told CNN’s Brianna Keiler during a 2022 interview.

“It has affected me and will affect me for the rest of my life, which is why I am fighting for change so that no child ever has to suffer in the name of treatment.”