Paris Hilton is getting candid about her diagnosis of rejection sensitivity dysphoria (RSD), a condition she has compared to like having “a demon in your mind.”
The hotel heiress sat down for a conversation on The Him & Her Show, with Lauryn Bosstick and Michael Bosstick's podcast on Dear Media, for an episode to air Monday.
Hilton explained she had been initially diagnosed with ADHD in her late 20s, prior to learning that she had RSD.
“It's basically, like, any thought of a negative perception, if you think someone is being rude or you feel something.... You will feel it like it's physical pain and it's not even real,” she stated.
The 44-year-old continued, “It's kind of just this, almost like a demon in your mind that is, like, saying negative self-talk to you.”
RSD is “when you experience severe emotional pain because of a failure or feeling rejected,” as per The Cleveland Clinic.
Hilton, who shares two young children with husband Carter Reum, said people living with RSD feel negative feelings “on such a deep level” that they have to train their brain into knowing if it’s “the RSD kicking in.”
“I've been through so many things in my life and especially in the 2000s, just everything I was going through with the media,” Paris said.
She went on, “I'm obsessed with learning more about it and spreading the message, because I want people to know that it doesn't have to be something that holds them back in life; it could be something that they can harness as a superpower, to really go for their dreams in life.”
The Simple Life star also revealed a shocking fact that she had not been diagnosed with ADHD as a child because society and the medical community were not focused on the ailment at the time.
“No one was talking about it when I was a teenager - especially for girls and women,” she said, adding, “You know, everyone just would say, "Oh, this is, like, something little boys have" ... and back then everyone always only said the negative parts about it.”
Paris said that the undiagnosed ADHD impacted her education, stating, “I was always so confused, and in school, it was so difficult for me.”
“As hard as I would study, I could never remember anything. I was always failing my test. I was just always in detention, getting in trouble. And it was always just very difficult for me,” she recalled.
The socialite confessed that she feels she has properly refocused her mind to adapt to the conditions and thrive, which is why she “really wanted to reframe” the public discussion on this topic in an effort to help people.
“I see this my superpower, and I wouldn't be entrepreneur I am today without it. It was me, like, this drive, and always being in the future, and there's, like, hard parts about it to it - very overwhelming,” Paris Hilton concluded.