The Paris Tape: How a Poker Player’s Betrayal Sparked a Legal Reckoning

_{Paris Hilton has released a new documentary. (Image: Jakob Studnar/Alamy)}

Paris Hilton was just 19 when a private tape of her with then-boyfriend Rick Salomon, a professional poker player known in gambling circles for his appearances at the World Series of Poker, was leaked to the public. The video, later branded 1 Night in Paris, wasn’t just a scandal. According to Hilton, it was the start of years of trauma that made her feel her “life was over.”

The footage was filmed in 2001, allegedly without her consent, and released in 2004 through adult distributor Red Light District Video, just weeks before Hilton debuted her reality series The Simple Life. Salomon, then 36, profited from the tape’s release after filing and settling a lawsuit. Hilton later sued and received a reported $400,000 in damages, which she said she planned to donate in part to charity.

A Poker Pro and a Public Betrayal

Rick Salomon wasn’t just a celebrity ex-boyfriend.  As a poker player he’s a familiar name in high-stakes gambling, with multiple appearances at the WSOP and a lifestyle linked to Hollywood elites and massive buy-in games. But for Hilton, he was also the source of one of the most traumatic events in her life.

“I was terrified,” Hilton says in her new documentary Infinite Icon: A Visual Memoir, which premiered in cinemas Jan. 30, 2026. “Is this going to ruin everything I worked so hard for?”

The sex tape, which became a tabloid fixture, cast a long shadow over Hilton’s early career. In the documentary, she recalls feeling humiliated and ashamed, not because of the act, but because of how the public treated her.

From Princess Aspirations to Public Shame

“I had always looked up to Princess Diana and Grace Kelly,” Hilton says, through tears. 

“And I felt like I could never be like these women… because of what he did to me.”

Hilton explains how strangers would call her names in public, how media outlets profited off her humiliation, and how her family advised her not to “give it oxygen” and keep smiling.

“I thought life was over and I didn’t want to show my face again,” she says.

The Shame That Wasn’t Hers

Hilton says she carried a shame that never belonged to her.

“People called it a scandal. It wasn’t. It was abuse,” Hilton told lawmakers in January 2026. 

“There were no laws at the time to protect me. There weren’t even words for what had been done to me.”

She added that no one saw her as a victim. “They sold my pain for clicks. Then they told me to be quiet, to move on, to even be grateful for the attention.”

Legal Shifts and Changing Narratives

When Hilton’s tape was leaked, there were virtually no U.S. laws protecting victims from non-consensual pornography. That has changed dramatically in the last two decades.

As of 2026:
•    Nearly every U.S. state criminalises non-consensual image sharing, often referred to as revenge porn.
•    The Take It Down Act, passed in 2025, requires platforms to remove such content within 48 hours of a report.
•    Deepfakes, AI-generated nudes and other synthetic abuse are now covered under the act.
•    The UK’s Online Safety Act 2023 similarly criminalizes sharing intimate images without consent.

Hilton’s advocacy helped spotlight the gaps in the legal system. In 2022, she testified in support of youth protections, and in 2026, she returned to Capitol Hill to support bills like the DEFIANCE Act, aimed at combating AI-driven sexual exploitation.

Victim's Words now Echo in Halls of Justice

Paris Hilton’s story isn’t just about a sex tape or a poker player’s betrayal. It’s about how society once treated women’s privacy as collateral for entertainment, and how victims of digital abuse have had to fight for recognition, rights and protection.

Her words, once dismissed as tabloid drama, now resonate in legislative halls and advocacy spaces. And they’re reshaping how future cases will be understood and handled.