PARIS & BRITNEY Ruined by FAME

THE ORIGINAL IT GIRLS HAVE BRAVELY OPENED UP ABOUT THEIR SHOCKING SECRET STRUGGLES

- Jennie Noonan

Britney Spears and Paris Hilton were once omnipresent It girls of the early 2000s. They seemed to have it all, and now, as they near 40 years old, fans have been given a glimpse of what it has really been like living in the spotlight.

Since Spears first exploded onto the pop music scene in 1998 with ‘…Baby One More Time’, she’s sold over 100 million records worldwide. Beyond her career, her heavily publicized personal struggles, including stints in rehab and culminating with her paparazzi-chased public breakdown in 2008, also saw her top the list of the most searched celebrities in the world.

Years later, she’s still in the headlines. A fan-lead #FreeBritney movement is desperate for an insight into her seemingly sheltered life under a conservatorship, which gives someone else control of almost everything – including her money, health and daily routine. “It breaks my heart that people have so much control over her,” Hilton said in an interview with UK’s Sunday Times of her friend Spears. “It’s not fair to be an adult and be treated like a child.”

THE REAL PARIS

“No-one really knows who I am ... I don’t even know who I am sometimes,” Hilton admits in the trailer for her new YouTube documentary, This Is Paris, which airs on Sept. 14. “I’m so used to playing a character, that it’s hard for me to be normal.”