'Terrified' Paris has her say

2007-06-11 07:02

Los Angeles - Paris Hilton has decided not to appeal a judge's decision sending her back to jail and called for an end to the media feeding frenzy sparked by her jail sentence.

Hilton, who was reportedly held in a Los Angeles prison hospital unit on Sunday under medication, was dragged sobbing from court on Friday after being ordered to serve out the remainder of her 45-day jail term.

The 26-year-old heiress to the Hilton hotel fortune was released for unspecified medical reasons last week after serving just three days behind bars, provoking a public outcry amid allegations of favouritism.

New reports on Sunday said that Hilton's health collapse last week was caused by dehydration.

"She didn't eat or drink a single thing for three days because she didn't want to use the toilet," a source also told the New York Daily News, adding that Hilton suffered from claustrophobia and hyperventilation.

"She was absolutely terrified that one of the guards or staffers would get her with the cellphone cam and it would wind up on the internet," a source identified as a Hilton insider told the newspaper.

"She cried the entire time, and that wasn't helping the dehydration," the source told the New York daily.

'By far the hardest thing I have ever done'

Though distraught at the decision to return her to prison, Hilton said in a statement released through her lawyers on Saturday that she would not appeal.

"I told my attorneys not to appeal the judge's decision," Hilton said, describing being in jail as "by far the hardest thing I have ever done".

According to entertainment news site TMZ.com, Hilton will remain in the hospital unit until she is released and will not be sent back to her spartan two-bunk cell at the Lynwood women's jail where she was incarcerated last week.

An army of photographers, reporters and television crews camped outside Hilton's home and the Los Angeles county jail awaiting police cruisers to transport her in and out.

Hilton was visited by sister Nicky Hilton and ex-boyfriend Stavros Niarchos on Sunday according to news reports.

"She's being strong," Nicky Hilton told reporters after the 30-minute visit at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility's medical ward, according to People Magazine' online edition.

'I'm learning and growing'

In a statement, Paris Hilton said she was using her jail time to reflect on her fate.

"During the past several days, I have had a lot of time to think, and I believe that I am learning and growing from this experience," she said.

Hilton, who throughout her career has rarely shunned the media spotlight, said in her statement she was stunned by the blanket coverage of her case.

"I was shocked to see all of the attention devoted to the amount of time I would spend in jail for what I had done - by the media, public and city officials," she said.

"I would hope going forward that the public and the media will focus on more important things like the men and women serving our country in Iraq and other places around the world."

Hilton was jailed in May for violating the terms of her probation following a conviction for alcohol-related reckless driving.

The pop-culture icon was twice caught driving on a suspended licence. She was stopped in January by California Highway Patrol officers and told that she was not allowed to be driving.

On that occasion, Hilton signed a statement acknowledging that she was not supposed to drive, and she was let off with an informal warning.

But just over a month later she was pulled over again in Hollywood when spotted driving her $190 000 Bentley Continental GTC at night with the headlights off.

- AFP