American media personality and businesswoman Paris Hilton has alleged that when she was 19 she had an uncomfortable incident with Harvey Weinstein at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. According to Variety, an American media company, Hilton made the claim in an interview with Glamour UK. She was at the festival to attend the annual amfAR gala for AIDS research, which Weinstein was hosting that year. Hilton said she met Weinstein the day before the gala. "I was at lunch with my girlfriend and he came up to the table and was like, 'Oh, you want to be an actress?' And I said, 'Yeah, I really want to be in a movie,'" she said. Paris Hilton Names Her Son Phoenix Barron Hilton Reum, Explains the Significance Behind It.

Hilton continued, "I was a teenager, so I was impressed by him. I was like, 'Oh my god, Harvey Weinstein is so cool!' and he said, 'Well, we should have a meeting. You can come up to my room and read scripts'... and I just didn't want to go, so I never went." According to Hilton, Weinstein became aggressive with her at the event the following night. She claimed that Weinstein chased her into the women's restroom and yelled, "Ya wanna be a star?" at her, reported Variety. Hilton said, "I went into the bathroom and then he followed me... He tried to open the door, he was hammering on the door, banging on it."

"And I wouldn't open it, because I was like, 'I'm in a stall, why do you want to come in here?' And I just wouldn't open it. And security came and literally carried him away and he was like [shouting], 'This is my party,' going nuts. It scared me and freaked me out," she continued. When asked if she had heard rumours about Weinstein's behaviour before meeting him at Cannes, Hilton answered, "Yeah, and it was just someone so powerful in Hollywood who everyone was terrified of." Harvey Weinstein Faces 16 Years Imprisonment in Sexual Assault Case.

When contacted by Variety regarding the allegation, a spokesperson for Weinstein denied Hilton's claims. Speaking through his spokesperson from L.A. County Jail, Weinstein said "that this never happened" and that he "never yelled at her and never followed her." "He had always treated Paris Hilton with the utmost respect and kindness, and always believed they had a cordial relationship," his spokesperson told Variety.

Hilton's interview with Glamour UK was published on the same day that Weinstein was sentenced to 16 years in prison for three counts of rape and sexual assault in Los Angeles. The former film producer was already serving a 23-year sentence in New York after being found guilty of rape and sexual assault in that state during a criminal trial in 2020, as per Variety.