Kathy Hilton

Hilton is the daughter of Kathleen Mary (née Dugan) and Larry Avanzino, an Italian-American. On her mother's side, Hilton has Irish ancestry.[7] Hilton's parents later divorced, and her mother married Kenneth E. Richards (1917–1998), who already had three grown children from a previous marriage, and had Kathy's two maternal half-sisters: actresses Kim and Kyle Richards.[5] Hilton also has five paternal half-siblings from her father's remarriage. She graduated from Montclair College Preparatory School in Los Angeles, where she became best friends with Michael Jackson. They remained close friends until his death in 2009.[8]

Left to right: Kathy Hilton, daughter Paris Hilton, half-sister Kyle Richards at NBC party, 2011

In 1968, Hilton began working as an actress, retiring in 1979. Notable appearances include Nanny and the Professor, Bewitched, Family Affair, Happy Days, The Rockford Files, and film appearances include The Dark and On the Air Live with Captain Midnight. On the May 13, 2008, episode of The Young and the Restless, she made a cameo appearance as herself.

In 2005, she hosted the reality show, I Want To Be a Hilton on NBC. She also appeared on The World According to Paris in 2011.

In June 2012, Hilton commented that she refuses to watch her half-sisters Kim and Kyle Richards on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, stating they caused her to "break down in tears" over watching their lives "fall apart".[9] In October 2020, it was revealed that Hilton would appear as a friend of the housewives for the eleventh season of the show.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, Hilton operated her own gift and antiques store The Staircase on Sunset Plaza in Los Angeles.[5] She debuted with 2002 merchandise sales on cable TV's QVC home shopping network.[5] In 2007, she began selling a signature skincare line on HSN.[5]

Since 2012, she has designed the Kathy Hilton Collection of party dresses, sold in four hundred stores worldwide, including Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom.[5][10][11][12][13][14]

She is known for her philanthropic endeavors.[6] In 2007, she raised money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, by asking celebrities to auction some of their belongings and donating the proceeds to them.[15] In 2011, alongside her two daughters, she received an award from the Starlight Children's Foundation at its 'A Stellar Night' Gala in Century City, Los Angeles.[16]

She met Richard Hilton at the age of fifteen while attending a private high school. In 1979, she married him.[17] They have four children: daughters Paris Hilton (born 1981)[14] and Nicky Hilton (born 1983),[14] as well as sons Barron Nicholas Hilton II (born 1989)[14] and Conrad Hughes Hilton III (born 1994).[14] Hilton has two granddaughters through her daughter Nicky and her husband James Rothschild: Lily Grace Victoria Rothschild (born 2016) and Teddy Marilyn Rothschild (born 2017).[18][19] Hilton also has a third granddaughter from her son Barron and his wife Tessa: Milou Alizée Hilton (born 2020).[20]

The couple resides in Bel Air, Los Angeles.[5][13]

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