Paris Hilton

Paris Hilton is, or has been, an heiress, a model, a TV and movie actress, an inadvertent XXX Internet star, a club owner, a fashion-line mogul, an autobiographer, a singer, a cosmetics queen, a jailbird, a TV chat-show guest. She’s the 21st century’s best example of someone who’s famous for being famous, but she’s also a good sport and, up close and semi-personal, kind of sweet. Fresh from being initiated into “a secret society” and given a medal by the Harvard Lampoon last Wednesday, she held court with the media and then took the stage at the Boylston Place club the Estate. Las Vegas impresario Jeff Beacher and four green-wigged little people, the Oompa-Loompas (of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory fame), joined her. A disco track about the Oompa-Loompa life boomed. Everyone cavorted and Paris exhorted, “You guys are my new brothers and sisters! Everyone in Boston fuckin’ rocks!” It was the Estate’s first-anniversary party, and it was packed.

“This is the biggest event we’ve done yet,” said co-owner Ed Kane. Paris, who turns 27 on February 17, was paid $25,000 to host. People — most with cameras — paid $20 to $30 to get in. To greet the media, Paris, wearing a shimmering silver Dolce & Gabbana dress, took the elevator to a private top-floor room. She posed and talked. I asked which role she played in her new film, The Hottie and the Nottie. “The hottie,” she said, laughing.

Paris believes a woman should enter a room as if wearing a crown. “It’s all about confidence. Of course, everyone has bad days in their life. Everyone’s human.” It didn’t seem appropriate to bring up her bad days amid all this glitz. Many people posed with Paris. Boston policeman Lou Holbrook put his arm around her and beamed, calling it a high point in his life. Melissa Teixeira, a model/actress who once sported Paris-blonde hair, said she’d had an offer from a Vegas club to play a Paris look-alike. She turned it down, but it did inspire her to become a model. She pushed through the thicket to deliver a rose to Paris and thank her for the inspiration.