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Summary
Once a fixture on the red carpet and a staple of the daily news cycle, Paris Hilton has recently all but disappeared from the American consciousness. Has the socialite who became famous simply for being famous ceded her throne to a new set of up-and-coming reality stars and party fixtures, or has she gone purposely dark in order to resurrect her brand like a phoenix rising from the ashes? Paris Hilton broke onto the New York City socialite scene in 2001, more famous for her late-night partying than for the small modeling jobs she had started taking. But her fame factor really began to take off when she starred in the Fox reality television series The Simple Life, with her childhood best friend Nicole Richie, in 2003. Dspite bad movie reviews, Hilton managed to make news. She was so pervasive that in 2004 New York Daily News gossip columnist Lloyd Grove banned her from his page and in 2007 The Associated Press conducted an experiment to try not reporting on Hilton for a week. Grove was successful for two years. The AP made it through its weeklong blackout and then reported on Hilton's arrest for driving with a suspended license nine days after the blackout began. It is hard to believe that after years of honing her ability to exploit herself and her name, Hilton has simply let the media forget about her. Perhaps dipping below the radar is exactly what Hilton is looking to do in order to rebuild her brand.
