Paris Hilton explicitly wanted to monetize fame before having any talent

Evidence

In 2000, famed photographer David LaChapelle shot her for Vanity Fair in her grandmother’s house with a mesh top and no bra, flipping off the camera. Hilton had grand aspirations: “I want to be famous,” she once told a friend. “I want people to know who I am to be aware of me and I want them to like me so I can sell them things…. I want people to appreciate my opinion as a tastemaker. As an icon. And I want to monetize that, like a lot.” — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 143

Categorization

• XREF: Her ‘tastemaker and icon’ ambition anticipates the influencer economy; connects to the reader’s internet-collapsed-distribution mechanism.