Acknowledgments

I’m indebted to so many people—more than one hundred sources—who helped make this book possible. I can’t thank them enough for their generosity and kindness, their forthrightness and candor.

Along with the Hilton dynasty’s enormous financial, philanthropic, and social success, scandal underscored the lives of a number of contemporary members of the family, and my probing into that colorful history opened some long-healed emotional wounds. In particular, I want to thank Trish Hilton, the widow of Nick Hilton, for agreeing to be interviewed for the first time about her often hellish life as his loving and supportive wife.

Over the years, especially as Paris Hilton came to fame, Trish and her two sons were contacted by journalists and TV talk show producers. Friends had suggested she write her own book. But she refused all entreaties to talk.

More than three decades after Nick’s death, she still felt a strong sense of loyalty to her deceased husband and to the Hilton dynasty. With my book in progress, though, she finally concluded that the true story should be told, and she agreed to numerous interviews.

Beyond that, she opened many doors to sources who were in her and Nick’s and the Hilton family’s circle who otherwise would have been unknown to me, among them Carole Doheny, Bob Neal (who regretfully died as this book neared completion), and Noreen Nash Siegel. Their colorful remembrances of the Hiltons added greatly to this biography.

I also owe a special debt of gratitude to Pat Skipworth Hilton, the first wife of Conrad Hilton’s third son, Eric. Pat’s reminiscences about life in the Hilton family, and her thoughtful impressions and entertaining anecdotes about everyone from Conrad to Paris, were all-important.

When Paris Hilton’s mother, Kathy, was quoted in the New York Post as telling people not to cooperate with me, it had exactly the opposite effect: it actually brought credible sources who had worked directly or indirectly in the Hilton organization to my attention. One of them was Neal Schwartz. Like others interviewed, he shared his memories and helped open previously locked doors.

Nothing of substance existed in the public domain when I began looking into Paris Hilton’s important and colorful maternal roots, which became a key part of this book.

For helping me piece together the story of Kathleen Dugan Avanzino Richards Catain Fenton and her daughters, Kathy Hilton and Kim and Kyle Richards, I am forever grateful to Jane Hallaren, Mickey Catain and her brother Michael, Ken Avanzino and his sister Adele, Sylvia Richards, Diane Richards, Barbara Frank, Judy Goldstone, Kay Rozario, Lynda Bannister, Monty Brinson, John Jackson, and Pierce Jensen. I owe an extreme debt of gratitude to the many who helped fill in missing pieces. They include: Mary Ellen Akerson, Ellis Amburn, Tim Applegate, Jarred Barron, Martha Barone, Marcel Becker, John Blanchette, Josephine and Diane Campisi, Jeanne Carmen, Marlene Catain, George Christy, John Cohan, David Patrick Columbia, Bob Conkey, Pat Cox, Arthur Crowley, John Donaldson, Digby Diehl, Jean Dmytryk, Donna Dugan, Tom Fioretti, Rudy Florentine, Chet Frangipane, Joe Franklin, Mona Freeman, Melanie Gelb, Maynard Haddad, Nikki Haskell, Ken Heineman, C. David Heymann, Bibi Hilton, Francesca Hilton, Dave Johnson, Richard Johnson, Carol Kane, Bob Kelly, Keith Kelly, Bob and Janice Melvin Keller, Sally Kirkland, Gavin Lambert, Wendy Leigh, Rob Levin, Larry Linderer, Perry Lopez, Skip E. Lowe, Joan Luther, Peter Mansfield, Jeanne Martin, John and Linda McCusker, Ailene Mehle, Barry Minkow, Elliott Mitchell, Hank Moonjean, Terry Moore, Brian O’Riordan, James Robert Parrish, Tom Parris, Bill Pawley, Grant Richards, Marjorie Roth, Milton Saxon, Phyllis Sherwood, Robert Siegel, Sam Staggs, Jackie Stallone, Barbara Sternig, Bob Suddarth, Les Sutorius, Gini Tangalakis, Donald Trump, Ralph Vanderpool, Frederick von Anhalt, Betsy von Furstenberg, Mamie Van Doren, Olga Viripaeff, Gerry Visco, Carol Wakeman, Christina Wolfe, Peggy Yakovlev. If I missed anyone, please know your help was deeply appreciated. There are those, not many, who asked for anonymity. You know who you are, and many thanks for your assistance.

A book like this cannot be written without the help of a strong team of inspired and experienced researchers who know where to look and how to interview—in this case, several of them published authors and journalists. My sincere thanks for due diligence and deep digging to Caroline Walton Howe, Judy Oppenheimer, Tom Lisanti, and Val Holley.

My agent, Elyse Cheney, did a masterful job by taking my idea to the perfect house. Steve Ross, vice president and publisher of Crown, got what I was trying to do from the moment he read my proposal. Luke Dempsey, my editor, is a rarity; his cuts and changes were inspired. His assistant, Lindsey Moore, helped smooth the process along. And for his eagle eye, many thanks to Random House attorney Matthew Martin.