Paris Hilton shared the secret sauce behind her entrepreneurial success: her ADHD.
The 44-year-old original influencer, reality star, and founder of a laundry list of business ventures, said on the January 21 episode of “On Purpose with Jay Shetty” that her neurodivergent brain helps her “think outside the box.”
“I never wanted to be in one lane. I wanted to create my own lane. And I just have always been someone who just loves to do things and take risks and do things before anyone else,” she said.
Hilton was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult, and although she struggled to cope with some of the symptoms as a teen, she now calls it her “superpower.”
“I know I would not be the woman I am today or the entrepreneur without it, because it just gives me such drive and curiosity and creativity and having a million ideas all the time, and just my brain just never stops,” Hilton added.
She said that she is able to “hyperfocus” and enter a flow state when something interests her. “That’s where the magic happens,” she said.
People with ADHD, which stands for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, can have trouble concentrating or sitting still, because their brains work differently to most people. Signs and symptoms can include having high levels of energy, being impulsive, finding it hard to follow instructions or finish tasks, and being very talkative.
Before Hilton was diagnosed with ADHD, she often worried something was “wrong” with her, and didn’t understand why she struggled at school.
“No matter how hard I would study or try, I would constantly just not be able to remember things in school, be losing my homework, failing tests,” she said.
She also experienced severe emotional pain when she felt rejected or criticized, a condition known as rejection-sensitive dysphoria, which is linked to ADHD.
“It’s exhausting. And it’s painful, and it’s very difficult to go through,” she said.
Now, she is spreading the message across her music, documentaries, and media interviews that ADHD can be “a good thing,” she added.
“You can be successful in life, and some of the most creative people I know and brilliant geniuses all have ADHD as well,” Hilton said.
