Paris Hilton shocked fans last month when she revealed she suffered abuse while attending the Provo Canyon School for behavior modification as a teen.
And Paris Jackson voiced her support for the socialite and revealed she was diagnosed with PTSD after attending a similar school during her youth.
Taking to Instagram stories Friday night, the 22-year-old daughter of Michael Jackson said ‘I stand with Paris Hilton and all the survivors,’ as she shared a petition to close the Provo school.
Speaking out: Paris Jackson voiced her support for Paris Hilton in her fight against behavior modification schools, in a series of Instagram stories on Friday (pictured in February 2020)
Jackson described herself ‘as a girl who also went to a behavior modification “boarding school” for almost two years as a teenager.’
She said in the time since she has been ‘diagnosed with PTSD because of it’ and that she continues ‘to have nightmares and trust issues.’
‘Please swipe up to shut the school down and stop the abuse of children,’ Jackson added about the petition that Hilton created earlier in the week and has already garnered over 83k signatures to close the school.
‘Let’s start with Provo but not stop there,’ she added of the movement and expressed her hope it would take a look at other schools.
Shocking: Paris Hilton shocked fans last month when she revealed she suffered abuse while attending the Provo Canyon School for behavior modification as a teen (pictured in October 2020)
Jackson went on to say she is still close to girls she was at the behavior modification school with and that they all share ‘the same symptoms of PTSD and nightmares and trust issues.’
In the past, Jackson has been open about her struggles with mental health from eating disorders to self harm.
Speaking to The Independent earlier this year, she said she used self-harm as ‘a distraction from emotional pain’ and that ‘tried to kill [herself] many times.’
‘There’s a lot of things that cause a dopamine release,’ she said. ‘Self-harm was one of them, tattoos was one of them and so there was that and then also it was a distraction from emotional pain and transferring to physical pain and the need for control.’
Still dealing: Jackson described herself ‘as a girl who also went to a behavior modification “boarding school” for almost two years as a teenager.’ She said in the time since she has been ‘diagnosed with PTSD because of it’ and that she continues ‘to have nightmares and trust issues’
She put her perspective clearly as ‘This is child abuse.’
The musician also referenced ‘#BreakingCodeSilence,’ a movement organized by former students at behavior modification schools who claim they were abused.
While the movement has been around since 2019, Hilton’s recent support and story has brought more attention to the industry that promotes itself of helping ‘troubled teens.’
In Hilton’s documentary, This is Paris, she shared that at age 16 while living in New York City two men took her out of her bedroom in the middle of the night as her parents cried.
Gaining momentum: ‘Please swipe up to shut the school down and stop the abuse of children,’ Jackson added about the petition that Hilton created earlier in the week and has already garnered over 83k signatures to close the school
Abuse: Jackson put her perspective clearly as ‘This is child abuse,’ as she shared the her classmates suffer from the same PTSD symptoms
She said she ran away from many schools until she was placed in Utah’s Provo Canyon School in the 90s, where she remained until she was 18-years old.
While at the Utah school she claims she was abused, forced to take drugs, and stripped down and placed in solitary confinement, among other experiences.
Universal Health Services, which has owned Provo Canyon School since 2000, has distanced itself from Hilton’s claims, noting they did not own the school at the time she and classmates recalled being abused.
Though, more recent students have recounted similar claims of treatment, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.
Traumatizing: While at the Utah school Hilton claims she was abused, forced to take drugs, and stripped down and placed in solitary confinement, among other experiences.