Paris Hilton photographed at MTV launch party. Photo / Getty
Paris Hilton photographed at MTV launch party. Photo / Getty
Heiress Paris Hilton isn't storing her nude pictures on the iCloud any more after the hacker who stole nude photos and more than $170,000 from her was jailed for almost five years.
Facing the woman who stole her identity in court, Hilton said she had been "violated" so many times she was "sick and tired of brushing it under the rug" and not standing up for herself.
Paris Hilton. Photo / Getty
Hilton turned up to see her hacker sentenced, and outside the court told TMZ her advice to other celebrities was "don't trust the iCloud" if they wanted to keep their pictures safe.
"I don't use iCloud at all and I haven't since [this happened]. I don't trust it," she said.
Hilton confronted her hacker in open court, reading a statement about the impact the hacking had on her, The Blast reported.
She revealed the extent to which the hacker had intruded into her life — even trying impersonate her and be let into Hilton's house in a gated community.
'UPSET, HURT AND VIOLATED'
"I felt so upset, hurt and violated. The defendant not only hacked into my accounts and made credit cards with my name on them but somehow found a way to hack into the email accounts of my employees, my friends and my family members such as my father and sister," she told the court.
"The defendant started contacting me personally through text after she impersonated me to a phone company and took over my cell phones where she actually had set it up so that she had her own phones that were directly linked to mine receiving all of my personal texts, emails, whatsapp conversations, private photos and videos."
Paris Hilton looks on during a Q&A with fans at Westfield Doncaster on November 18, 2016. Photo / Getty
She told the court the woman impersonated her to book a penthouse suite at the Roosevelt Hotel for a New Year's Eve party, charging tens of thousands of dollars of champagne to Hilton's credit card.
"Now it has made me very scared, terrified and traumatised," Hilton said.
"This has impacted me in so many ways. I am constantly looking over my shoulder and even scared to walk into my home alone fearful that this woman or her boyfriend or other dangerous friends are inside there waiting to hurt me or steal from me.
"This woman targeted me in such a way that I will never forget or get over it. I feel so incredibly violated."
'SICK TO MY STOMACH'
Outside court after the sentencing, Hilton said justice had been served and her hacker "got what she deserved".
"It was traumatising and terrifying to even look at her and made me feel sick to my stomach," she told TMZ. "Everything that she put me through. but I was also happy that I got to see her and let her know exactly what she did and how much it affected me.
"And I think she really understood. band the judge really made her understand even more."
Ms Bkhchadzhyan used Ms Hilton's credit cards and bank accounts to book an opulent party at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood on New Year's Eve 2015 worth around $53,000, TMZ reported.
She pretended to be the celebrity in an email to Ms Hilton's employees, and convinced them to transfer $106,000 to her account.
The hacker also logged into Ms Hilton's iCloud account and stole naked photos of the star — although they have not yet been leaked online.
Ms Bkhchadzhyan also hacked Paris Hilton's sister Nicky and father Rick Hilton in a bid to access passwords to various other accounts.
She was finally arrested in 2017, pleading guilty to bank fraud conspiracy. Paris Hilton is the granddaughter of Hilton Hotels founder Conrad Hilton. She shot to fame as a teenage model before being labelled as New York's leading "It" girl in 2001.
