Paris Hilton to Unveil Traumatic Childhood Event in New Documentary: ‘I Still Have Nightmares’

Paris Hilton will be discussing trauma from her childhood that still affects her to this day in her new documentary, This Is Paris, premiering this summer. The socialite gave a sneak peek of the film, originally scheduled to debut at the Tribeca Film Festival, on Tuesday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!

“No one really knows who I am,” Hilton said in the preview. “Something happened in my childhood that I’ve never talked about with anyone. I still have nightmares about it.” PEOPLE reported after obtaining a clip of the documentary that Hilton will discuss the mental and emotional abuse she experienced as a teenager at a Utah boarding school.

In the interview with Kimmel’s summer guest host, Nikki Glaser, Hilton opened up about the emotional experience that has come with filming the documentary and preparing to release it. “I’m excited, but I’m also very nervous, you know, given the topics discussed in this film because it’s things I’ve never talked about before — really personal and traumatic experiences,” she said. “So, to talk about that publicly is obviously very hard.”

“Obviously, I’m used to being on camera from being on camera for so long,” The Simple Life star added. “But I’ve always been a very naturally shy person. So, I loved just inventing this character and playing that character. And to actually be myself was a completely different experience, but also almost therapeutic in some way where I learned so much about myself that I had no idea of why I am the way I am and now I understand myself so much more.”

Hilton said the documentary was “very therapeutic” during a March interview on The Talk. “I became so close with the director, and she really asked me so many questions,” she said. “I started thinking about my past and what I’ve been through and realized just how much it’s affected my life and how I was holding on to so much trauma for so long.”

Filming the documentary has “released a lot” of that trauma emotionally, Hilton said. “I think when people see this film, they’re really going to see a different side to me than they’ve ever seen before. Because I honestly didn’t even know who I was up until this year. So, I really learned a lot about myself through this film.” This Is Paris was directed by Alexandra Dean and produced by Aaron Saidman, and reportedly features appearances by Kathy Hilton, Nicky Hilton, Kyle Richards and Kim Kardashian.