In an Anderson Cooper segment on CNN about Paris Hilton’s interview with Larry King, the hot talk show host says he doesn’t understand Paris’ appeal and that she’s squandered her fame. Most of the guests support Paris and said she did a good job in the interview. Cooper still doesn’t like her and doesn’t mince words when it comes to telling what he thinks about the bland heiress.

Cooper says he doesn’t get Paris’ appeal
While discussing Paris’ persona, one of the guests on Cooper’s show, Jess Cagle from People Magazine says, “She seems… rather immature, but also really sophisticated and shrewd, in her way.”

“How much of it is an act? That whole… appearing like a moron?” Cooper asks

“I think it’s really an act… She comes by it honestly, this is a young woman who grew up in Beverly Hills and we know who some of her friends are, so she knows how to put it on… This kind of cartoon character she plays is not really her. It’s not that far off. There’s not a huge disconnect between the person you see on the red carpet and the person you talk to, except that when you talk to her… you do actually like her. I think everybody here tonight among us actually sort of did like her during this interview except for you.”

“Well that, you know. I just don’t understand her. I don’t understand the appeal. I don’t understand what she has done,” Cooper explains.

Cooper says Paris has squandered her privileged life
Cooper is not a Paris fan at all and tells it like it is, saying a little later in the show “For me, the big question is that someone who is born into such privilege and given so many opportunities not to make the most of that and try to use that in a way… You know, rather than spend 26 years of your life trying to walk a red carpet and get more attention on yourself, why not try to use some of that attention for something good?

So she’s saying now that she wants to do that. Giving her the benefit of the doubt where should she go from here?”

Guest Marc Lamont Hill from Temple University says that Paris should go to Mothers Against Drunk Driving to help with their cause. He says he just wants to see her doing something that’s good.

Anderson talks about how Paris sounded genuine about helping with charity, and guest panelist Lisa Bloom from Court TV says she sounds like she’s still grasping around about what she wants to do and is not there yet.

Larry King says Paris is in denial that she’s at fault
Larry King is interviewed by Cooper briefly and he says he “doesn’t understand the phenomenon that is Paris Hilton,” but that he likes her and that she did just 23 days, not 5 years or 10 years, and is in denial about what she did wrong. He says it’s conflicting because Paris continues to say she did nothing wrong. She had one drink before her DUI, was told she could drive on a suspended license so that wasn’t her fault, and of course said she never did drugs and has never been drunk.

Then King says she claims she’s better now, but why did she have to get better if she denies she did anything wrong?

Cooper brings up the fact that there are tons of videos of Paris partying, using the N word, etc., but she continues to say it’s everyone else’s fault that they just don’t see the real her.

King then tries to explain why he softballed the interview, saying he could have gotten into that but there wasn’t time.

They play the clip where Paris can’t name her favorite Bible passage, and Cooper asks King “Did you get the sense that she had sort of prepared talking points that somebody had given her, and that seemed to be a situation she didn’t really know any passage from the bible.”

“That could very well be, I couldn’t really make a judgment like that. Yes, someone should have worked with her… she had two days to prepare.”

King said he couldn’t question her on it, because he didn’t have the prescriptions in front of him to challenge her.

Paris says she’s never taken drugs
The segment of Paris denying ever having taken drugs is played and Cooper points out that The Smoking Gun has pictures of her getting high in Amsterdam.

Anderson asks guest Ken Sunshine, a public relations consultant, if it matters from a PR standpoint that Paris lied so blatantly. He says “No, because I don’t think anybody believed that she told the truth there.”

“Why not just tell the truth?”

“It’s crazy, does anyone really believe that she’s never taken any drugs ever? Virtually every Presidential candidate admitting it, leaders of industry… it’s not credible,” said Sunshine.

Paris could have done so much with her life so far and has only promoted herself, says Cooper
A little later Lisa Bloom from Court TV says there aren’t a lot of roles for women in society, that Paris has done well with what she has and there’s no reason to have hostility toward her.

Cooper brings up her complete lack of adding anything valuable to society:
“I would argue that for someone… who has the privilege of being born into a wealthy family and opportunities of great schooling and world knowledge and travelling around the world and seeing the plight of people around the world, for her then to spend a good bulk of her life going to parties and promoting herself”

“But she’s promoting herself as a model, it would have been nice if she would have done that, and she’s only 26 and maybe she’s still young…”

“But 26, I got to tell you, there’s a lot of soldiers in Iraq who are 18 years old, and taking on greater responsibility,” adds Anderson.

“You have to give her credit that she has earned a legal living as a model.”

The guy really has a point about Paris squandering her opportunities but you know here I am gossiping about celebrities all day when I could be adding more to society too. There’s a place in society for mindless entertainment and vapid manufactured beauties like Paris fill it perfectly, especially when they’re up no good.

Thanks to ONTD for linking these videos. Here are the YouTube video segments from which this article was written.

Anderson Cooper on Paris Hilton videos:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5 (this is just a segment on Sheriff Lee Baca)

Update thanks to commentor petite for pointing out that Anderson is the son of a Vanderbilt and comes from a privileged background that’s been marred by tragedy, which may explain his disdain for Paris.

Header image is from Anderson Cooper’s book Dispatches from the Edge and I cut out the blurred picture of the person crouching in the background because it’s kind of disturbing and I didn’t think it should be included on a post about Paris. That is probably Cooper’s point.