In his new memoir Walking Disaster: My Life Through Heaven and Hell, Sum 41 frontman Deryck Whibley opens up about his past relationship with Paris Hilton and the emotional fallout when a sex tape of hers was released. Deryck recalls that near the end of their time together, Paris began hearing rumors that her ex was planning to leak a sex tape they had made. Despite her efforts to prevent it, the video was made public about six or seven months after they had broken up. Although they had already parted ways, Deryck reached out to support Paris when the news broke.
“She was devastated and worried about how she’d explain it to her parents,” Deryck writes. “We had some really sad conversations, and I just listened to her cry.”
However, he praised how Paris was able to eventually take control of a situation that could have completely destroyed her career. “She’s smart and found a way to turn that invasion of privacy into something positive for herself in the long run. Her advocacy work is impressive too,” he adds.
Deryck also brings up the phrase “the Mac,” a term he attributes to advice he received from rapper Ice-T early in Sum 41’s career. Ice-T told them, “The only thing harder than being the Mac, is staying the Mac.” The band took those words to heart as they navigated fame. Deryck noted that Paris, too, embodied this idea by staying strong despite public scrutiny.
In her own 2023 memoir Paris: The Memoir, Hilton shared that she was pressured into making the tape by her much older boyfriend, who she nicknames “Scum.” She also revealed that she had been promised it would never be shown to anyone else. But when it went public, she felt as though her life was over. “The career I had imagined was no longer possible,” Paris wrote.
Despite this setback, Paris was able to rebuild herself and become a major success in the entertainment world. She released a new album, Infinite Icon, last month and is set to reunite with The Simple Life co-star Nicole Richie for their upcoming TV series, Paris & Nicole: The Encore.
