The Hilton Hotel heiress rose to fame in 2000s reality TV series The Simple Life alongside Nicole Richie, where they left their glamorous LA lifestyles to live with normal families and try different careers.
Speaking to the Press Association, she spoke about the "harassment" she faced from the media as a young woman in the limelight, and the impact it had on her.
"Back then the media was so cruel to myself and to a few other women and it just felt like harassment," she said.
"It was entertainment for people back then and the things that people would say to us would not be accepted today."
It has changed a lot, says Hilton, but some people "just haven't got that memo". Work needs doing but at least things are evolving in a more positive way.
She has often been criticised for being a "dumb blonde", which she has since said was a persona she created as "armour" to protect herself.
Her new documentary Infinite Icon: A Visual Memoir follows her return to music.
A 2020 documentary, This Is Paris, made headlines when she disclosed she was physically and psychologically abused while at boarding schools for troubled teenagers.
She has since become an avid activist in the US, speaking out against the treatment programs in the "troubled teen industry".
"The character and the persona that I created was an armour and a shield to really protect me, because I'd been through so much and nobody knew that, and I felt like I just was playing this character, so that I wouldn't really have to go deep or go into what I had been through, because I wasn't ready at that point," she said.
"Now I kind of pull out the character sometimes, not as a protection, more as just the silly fun side of me.
"People know that it is a character, I love that people know that there is a lot more to me than that, and a lot of a deeper, more intelligent person.
"It'll always be a part of me and I think a lot of people in the entertainment industry have their character, or kind of like the mask that they put on when they're entertaining."
The DJ and businesswoman and her husband Carter Reum are the parents of two young children, and she describes herself as very "protective" of them.
"Becoming a mother has just been my greatest joy in life," she said.
"My two babies are my world and just bring me so much love and happiness. We just have so much fun together.
"Seeing the world through their eyes and going to Disneyland together, and celebrating the holidays with them and just seeing how excited they get for everything, it's everything to me."
The hotel heiress and former reality TV star said she is so grateful to have found "such an amazing husband" and to have created such a beautiful life together with their children.
"Being a mother, I'm so protective and I think that's another reason why I use my voice so much, especially having a daughter, because I don't ever want her to feel the way that I did or to go through the things that I went through."
Infinite Icon: A Visual Memoir is out on January 30.
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