That infamous sex tape of Paris Hilton finally has accomplished the seemingly impossible: It has made her blush.
“I feel embarrassed [and] humiliated,” said the wild-child hotel heiress yesterday, speaking out for the first time about the shame the X-rated controversy has brought upon her and her famous family.
The 22-year-old said she regrets having made the tape “especially because my parents and the other people who love me have been hurt.”
Hilton has become the butt of endless late-night TV jokes since an Internet porn company obtained a copy of the video she made three years ago with then-boyfriend Rick Salomon.
“I was in an intimate relationship, never, ever thinking that my foolish actions would become public,” she said.
Hilton’s father, Rick – who has been criticized for letting Paris (as well as 20-year-old sister Nicky) lead a wild party life around the world – also came forward yesterday to say he was upset by the revelations, but stood behind her.
“I love my daughter more than anything in the whole world,” Hilton said. “It goes without saying that I was severely unhappy knowing that such a tape exists. But I support her in every way humanly possible.”
Both statements came as it was revealed the Hiltons hired New York PR crisis consultant Dan Klores to deal with the fallout from the sex tape.
One source said Rick Hilton has visited Paris twice in Los Angeles since the scandal broke.
Friends also said he and his wife, Kathy, have been trying for years to help their party-loving daughter overcome drinking and behavioral problems.
According to one friend, the Hiltons sent Paris to a rehab program in Lake Arrowhead, Calif., some six years ago, when she was just a teenager.
“She ran away from Lake Arrowhead and came back to New York City to be with her parents,” the friend said.
The Hiltons next signed her up for a year-long program for troubled youth in Provo Canyon, Utah, the friend said.
“Her parents were tortured about sending her there,” the friend said. “But they wanted to try it because they cared.
Obviously, she still has a wild streak. This has been an agonizing time for her and her parents.”
Last week, Salomon filed a $10 million slander lawsuit against Paris, the Hilton family and their spokeswoman.
He charged the young socialite was an “active participant” in the video but that she and her family have tried to portray him as someone “who took advantage of an incapacitated young woman.” He says Hilton spoke to the camera – and even stopped to answer her phone.
Salomon also has sued Seattle-based Marvad Corp. for distributing footage from the video.
Hilton is due to debut on Dec.2 in Fox’s new reality series “The Simple Life” – in which she leaves the big-city social swirl to live on a farm.