Kathy Hilton has become one of the most entertaining women on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

She wanders around in slippers. She pulls unexpected objects out of her handbag. She delivers one-liners that leave everyone wondering whether she's a comedic genius or simply broadcasting from a different planet.

Possibly both.

But long before Bravo introduced us to this delightfully eccentric Kathy, some of the people who crossed her path were telling a very different story. Hotel employees. A relative. Former friends. A society columnist. A hotel manager who apparently still hasn't recovered from one particular weekend.

Their accounts, published in Jerry Oppenheimer's unauthorized 2006 biography House of Hilton and in a 2007 Vanity Fair report, all circle back to the same few things: a famous last name, a lot of hotel staff, a daughter on her way to becoming a brand, and money that may not have been quite what it seemed.

Everything below is allegation and personal recollection, as published in those sources. None of it has been independently established, and these accounts describe events from decades ago.

So let's start where it all started. With the name.

THE NAME — How Kathy Richards Became a Hilton.

Kathy Hilton was born Kathleen Elizabeth Avanzino in 1959.

Before she became a society fixture, she was a child actress known as Kathy Richards, with appearances on shows including Happy Days and The Rockford Files. Her younger half-sisters, Kim and Kyle Richards, followed her into acting.

Their mother, Kathleen Dugan, better known as Big Kathy, reportedly had very specific ambitions for her girls. According to House of Hilton, Big Kathy believed marrying a wealthy man was the ultimate goal.

Well. Mission accomplished.

Kathy met Richard "Rick" Hilton through mutual friends when she was 15 and he was 19. They got serious a few years later and married in Beverly Hills on November 24, 1979.

Rick was the grandson of Conrad Hilton, founder of the hotel empire, and the son of Barron Hilton. He was also a University of Denver student with an entrepreneurial streak: according to Vanity Fair, he threw parties at the Denver Hilton and charged classmates $20 to get in. Not exactly struggling to make rent, but never one to miss a business opportunity. He'd go on to co-found the luxury real estate firm Hilton & Hyland in 1993.

Now, here's the detail that matters for everything that follows.

Barron Hilton reportedly had a strict rule: no preferential treatment and no special rates for family members at Hilton properties.

According to a Hilton Hotels insider quoted in House of Hilton, Kathy routinely ignored it. The source claimed she'd remind hotel executives that Rick was expected to become the next big figure in the Hilton empire. Nobody wants to be the employee who said no to the future boss's wife.

That future never happened. Rick chose real estate over running hotels.

But for years, according to former employees, the mere possibility was enough. And the first people to feel it were the ones asked to look after the baby.

THE BABY — Paris Hilton, Passed Around Like a Room Key.

The babysitting stories start inside the family.

Patricia Skipworth Hilton, the former wife of Rick's uncle Eric, told Oppenheimer she was visiting Barron and Marilyn Hilton when Kathy arrived with nine-month-old Paris, whom she introduced by her nickname, "Star."

Kathy asked Patricia to hold her for a minute.

According to Patricia, that was the last she saw of Kathy until evening. No diapers. No feeding instructions. No estimated time of return.

Patricia was furious. When she complained to Marilyn, Marilyn reportedly rolled her eyes and explained that Kathy had done this before: she wanted to go out, and she knew somebody would take care of the baby.

When Kathy finally came back, she allegedly said she'd had somewhere to be and didn't think Patricia would mind. Patricia told her never to do it again, and later described her as selfish, spoiled and self-centered.

And if family members were being drafted into childcare, hotel employees apparently didn't stand a chance.

The same Hilton insider claimed that when Paris was a baby, Kathy and Rick regularly turned to housekeeping staff at the New York Hilton, sometimes leaving Paris with a female employee on Friday and not returning until late Sunday.

An entire weekend.

Most hotels offer turndown service and a chocolate on the pillow. This one, allegedly, came with a bonus infant.

And then there was New Jersey, where the babysitting story collides with something much messier.

THE SUITE — The Parsippany Weekend One Manager Never Forgot.

The manager of a Hilton in Parsippany, New Jersey, recalled Kathy and Rick turning up unannounced on a busy Friday with young Paris and two small dogs.

The hotel was fully booked. They had no reservation. And pets weren't allowed, apart from service animals.

Normally, that's the end of the conversation.

But according to the manager, the couple made it very clear they were Hiltons and expected VIP treatment. Barron's rule, apparently, did not travel to New Jersey.

So the manager improvised. The hotel had luxury suites leased by major corporations, including Warner-Lambert, and one would sit empty until Monday. He gave it to the Hiltons.

The requests started almost immediately. Rick called for a welcome amenity: California red wine, something white, and seafood for Kathy.

And then, of course, the babysitter. The manager said he eventually persuaded an elderly German seamstress who worked at the hotel to watch Paris while her parents enjoyed the hotel nightclub.

Let's recap his weekend. A room in a fully booked hotel. A waived pet policy. Complimentary wine and seafood. And the in-house seamstress reassigned as a nanny.

All for guests who hadn't booked.

On Sunday evening, the Hiltons checked out, and the manager breathed a sigh of relief. The corporate guests were due Monday morning. Plenty of time.

The phone rang. It was the hotel. Urgently.

Back in the suite, he claimed, he found dog urine and feces throughout. He alleged the dogs had never been taken outside. Housekeeping reportedly needed an extensive deep clean before anyone else could use the room.

What stung most, he said, was that he never got so much as a thank-you. He compared the family's attitude to that of an imperial court.

That's his version, as published by Oppenheimer, with no independent documentation of the suite's condition. But hold on to the dogs. They'll be back.

First, though, Las Vegas. Where the kids were older, and the stakes were furrier.

VEGAS — Ferrets, a Prada Bag and the Barron Card.

By the time Paris and Nicky were old enough to roam the Las Vegas Hilton, the family's reputation had apparently arrived before them.

Margaret Mary "Peggy" Cusack Yakovlev, who worked closely with Eric Hilton and his second wife Bibi, told Oppenheimer that Kathy and Rick looked down on hotel staff. She described the girls wandering the property with little supervision, alleged that Kathy encouraged their sense of entitlement, and said some employees simply tried to avoid the family to dodge a confrontation. Her words for Kathy: pushy, arrogant, condescending.

Which brings us to the ferrets.

According to House of Hilton, Paris, around 12 at the time, had pet ferrets she carried around in designer handbags. Including a Prada.

Of course she did.

One evening, Paris and Nicky allegedly showed up at the Las Vegas Hilton's 1,300-seat showroom with the ferrets in tow. Staff were worried the animals would escape into the audience. Fair. Nothing ruins a Vegas show like a ferret sprinting under seat 412.

A manager finally told Kathy the girls and their animals couldn't go in.

According to the account, Kathy put her hands on her hips, confronted him, and threatened to tell Barron Hilton how his granddaughters were being treated.

Remember Barron's rule about no special treatment for family? Kathy allegedly played the Barron card anyway. Over ferrets. In a handbag.

The account doesn't say how the standoff ended, so we'll never know whether the ferrets saw the show.

And Kathy wasn't the only one Yakovlev remembered. She recalled Rick smoking a cigar near that same showroom entrance when an employee complimented him on his beautiful family and asked his secret. Rick allegedly answered, loudly, with a crude remark about enjoying sex. In a public hallway. To an employee making small talk.

The Hilton name promised polish. By these witnesses' accounts, the family didn't always deliver it.

And by the late '90s, that name was about to be put to a whole new use.

THE BRAND — Making Paris Famous, by Any Means Necessary.

The little girl with the ferrets grew up. And according to Vanity Fair, her parents were very involved in what came next.

Suzan Hughes, a former wife of Herbalife founder Mark Hughes and godmother to Kathy's youngest son Conrad, recalled Kathy and Rick hosting parties at small New York clubs, advertised with flyers promoting the Hilton sisters.

The strategy, according to Hughes, was simple. Promise a celebrity. Attract the photographers. Make sure Paris is standing there when the cameras arrive.

Sometimes the promised celebrity didn't show.

Paris always did.

Long before influencers and orchestrated publicity campaigns became normal, the Hiltons apparently understood the value of a camera. According to Hughes, they weren't just watching Paris become famous. They were helping build it.

And once the fame arrived, some people felt it started showing up in places it didn't belong.

Former New York Daily News gossip columnist Lloyd Grove recalled the night Paris appeared on Saturday Night Live, after her sex tape became public, in a sketch built on suggestive jokes about a fictional Paris Hilton hotel. Kathy and Rick attended with their two youngest sons, who were still very young. Afterward, Grove said, Kathy was delighted, praising how funny Paris had been.

Grove found it uncomfortable. And striking, since Kathy had publicly condemned the exploitation of Paris after the tape's release.

A former friend described another moment to Vanity Fair. After Big Kathy died of breast cancer, guests gathered at Rick and Kathy's home following the funeral. According to the friend, footage of Paris's recent 21st birthday was playing on repeat on a big screen, with Rick encouraging people to watch.

Families grieve in very different ways, and this is one guest's reaction, not proof of anyone's intentions. But she clearly felt that even that day, the spotlight found its way back to Paris.

And wherever the spotlight went, according to some, the money wasn't far behind.

THE MONEY — Friends, a $350,000 Rental and a $1 Million Interview.

That same former friend made another accusation. After she divorced her wealthy husband, she said, Kathy stayed close to the ex and his new wife instead of her. Her interpretation: Kathy valued wealthy connections over loyalty. Kathy didn't publicly respond in the article.

It fit a broader criticism from some acquaintances: that the family cultivated people with private jets and yachts, and that their actual finances were less spectacular than the image. That doesn't mean they weren't wealthy. Rick's real estate business was successful, and the Hilton name came with real advantages. But Vanity Fair questioned whether the lifestyle matched the resources.

Which brings us back to the dogs.

In 2007, Vanity Fair reported that Kathy and Rick had rented out their own seven-bedroom Southampton home to another family for the summer, for about $350,000. At that price, the people paying would expect perfection. Possibly a butler. Definitely working window screens.

But a woman familiar with the rental said the family renting the Hiltons' house was not happy. According to her, Kathy and Rick's home had been handed over dirty, with moldy furnishings, damaged screens and signs that the Hiltons' dogs weren't exactly house-trained. She also alleged the renters struggled to get Kathy and Rick to fix anything.

A luxury property. The Hiltons' dogs. A mess. And someone else left to deal with it. If you're getting déjà vu from Parsippany, you're not alone. Again, these are an acquaintance's allegations, not an inspection report.

And the money question reached all the way to network television.

In 2007, Paris was about to leave jail after serving time for driving with a suspended license, and her first big interview was the most valuable booking in town. Barbara Walters, a longtime friend of Kathy's whom the Hiltons had once honored with a party, seemed the obvious choice.

But according to Vanity Fair, Rick allegedly told Walters that NBC had offered substantially more. Reports put NBC's proposed deal near $1 million, well above ABC's. Paying for news interviews raised serious ethical questions, and NBC eventually walked away.

Paris ended up talking to Larry King. For free.

Walters declined to attack Kathy, telling Vanity Fair she seemed like a nice woman who cared about her daughter. Others saw the episode as a friendship traded for a bidding war.

THE MANNERS — Mocked by High Society. Hired to Teach It.

Through all of this, the Hiltons had critics at the very top of the social ladder too.

Society columnist Taki Theodoracopulos, in remarks recounted in House of Hilton, mocked Kathy and Rick's manners and compared them to The Beverly Hillbillies: all the money, none of the refinement. One of his jabs pictured the couple eating ketchup-covered hamburgers while drinking Château Latour.

Which, honestly, sounds like a great Tuesday. But we are not Taki's target audience.

And yet, in 2005, the woman high society loved to sneer at got her own NBC show teaching everyone else how to behave.

I Want to Be a Hilton had contestants competing for a taste of New York society, with Kathy as their guide to etiquette and manners. Yes: the same Kathy former hotel employees described as demanding and condescending was now the official instructor.

Vanity Fair spotted the punchline. Contestants were taught to hold a wineglass by the stem.

In the show's final scene, Kathy herself reportedly didn't.

HOME — Nine Years at the Waldorf, and the Kathy We Know Now.

To understand why hotels run through every one of these stories, it helps to know that for the Hiltons, a hotel wasn't a vacation. It was home.

Kathy, Rick and their four kids spent roughly nine years living at the Waldorf Towers, the residential section of New York's Waldorf Astoria. Kathy has spoken warmly about those years on RHOBH, and the memories are pure chaos in the best way: Paris reportedly sneaking out via the service elevator, and Kyle remembering Conrad and her daughter Alexia Umansky hiding in an air-conditioning vent.

To be clear, none of the allegations above, from the New York, Parsippany or Las Vegas Hiltons, are said to have happened at the Waldorf. These are happy family memories.

But they explain a lot. For most of us, hotel staff are people who help during a short stay. For the Hiltons, they were practically the household. And according to some former employees, the family sometimes treated them that way.

Not everyone sees Kathy through that lens. Her longtime friend Nikki Haskell defended her and Rick in Vanity Fair as loving, attentive parents. And the couple have now been married for more than four decades, which in Beverly Hills is practically a miracle.

Those perspectives belong in this story too.

And for a long time, these stories felt like ancient history. Old book, old magazine, old grudges.

Until Aspen.

ASPEN — The Night Kathy Hilton Allegedly Lost Her Temper.

For years, former hotel employees had described a Kathy Hilton who didn't appreciate being told no.

Fast-forward to RHOBH Season 12 in 2022, when Kathy joined the women for a trip that would end in one of the show's most controversial off-camera incidents.

The tension started at Kemo Sabe, where Lisa Rinna ordered Kendall Jenner's 818 tequila instead of Casa Del Sol, the brand Kathy's family had invested in. Kathy was not amused. And she was even less pleased that Kyle didn't defend her.

But the real explosion came later, at Aspen's exclusive Caribou Club.

At the reunion, Kathy admitted she had approached the DJ to request music for the group. When she couldn't get his attention, she turned to a manager and offered money to have some songs played.

The manager refused.

According to Kathy, he eventually told her to go back to Los Angeles.

Somewhere, a Parsippany hotel manager felt very seen.

Kathy got angry and insisted the women leave. Kyle wasn't having it.

And according to Lisa Rinna, things went considerably further.

Rinna claimed that after leaving the club with Kathy, she witnessed an extraordinary tirade aimed at the other Housewives, at Bravo, at NBC, and above all at Kyle. She alleged Kathy threatened to destroy the show, insulted several cast members and made vicious remarks about her sister. Rinna also claimed Kathy kept raging after they got back to Kyle's house, even breaking her own sunglasses.

Kathy disputed important parts of Rinna's account and accused her of exaggerating.

But she did apologize to Kyle for her behavior, and acknowledged she had said hurtful things.

And Kyle made one particularly revealing observation during their confrontation: it wasn't the first time Kathy had spoken to her that way. It was the first time she'd done it in front of other people.

The most explosive moments were never filmed, and viewers were left to decide how much of Rinna's version they believed.

Still, Kathy's own account confirmed how the evening began: with someone in a position of authority telling her no.

Decades earlier, former Hilton employees alleged that Kathy reacted badly when staff refused her requests. In Aspen, an argument over music at a private club became a family crisis played out on national television.

Different decade. Different venue.

An interestingly familiar accusation.