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by This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it on Sunday, 28 June 2009
zoomCandy Spelling has put her Holmby Hills home on the market at $150m. Hilton is handling the sale.
“I was quite nervous. Going off on my own was a big step. Not having a real revenue source at that time it was a big jump. It was a big risk.
“But my father used to say that you don’t want to work for other people because you have to make them $100 to see one dollar. He encouraged me to be an entrepreneur and to go on my own. I’m glad I did that. It’s a real feeling of self-satisfaction. You don’t have to answer to anyone, you don’t have to deal with the politics in companies.”
Despite the success, running a real estate brokerage is only part of the Rick Hilton story. He has successfully ventured into the entertainment industry, having already produced one movie. He is the executive producer of his wife Kathy’s US television show, ‘I want to be a Hilton’, and also an executive producer of daughter Paris’ reality show ‘My BFF’, which is currently being shot in Dubai.
More importantly, he looks after allher commercial deals, including licenses for fragrances, handbags and shoes. The Paris Hilton brand has gone global, largely thanks to her father’s work behind the scenes.
“Paris' fragrances did $200m last year at retail. Now that’s a pretty significant number. I oversee all her different activities, and it’s an exciting brand. I am very proud of what she has achieved and keeps achieving,” he says.
“I am also proud of my younger daughter Nicky, who just recently signed an important licensing deal with a division of Sumitomo for Japan.”
And this is just the beginning. This week the real estate magnate and his wife will join their daughter in Dubai. Hilton wants to look over the editing of Paris’s television show, and while in town, talk to potential investors for his real estate operations. Not to mention striking a few deals along the way.
“Due to the global crisis there has never been a better time for investors to acquire assets,” Hilton says. “I’ve never been [in the UAE] before but it all sounds pretty incredible, especially the amazing real estate projects that they have built in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
“We have many ideas, and my wife Kathy is coming with me on this trip and she is interested in launching her skincare line as well as her fragrance in the UAE.
“I’m hopeful of this being a very positive trip for the whole family,” he adds.
But this is of course no ordinary family — apart from being worth millions, each member appears to have found fame and fortune in their own right.
But with that celebrity has come constant media attention, and not always the type they would want. Does he ever wish they were just an average American family that nobody had heard of?
“The press can get a little bit tiresome at times. It can get to you a bit, but you have to live with it and deal with it. I guess the public only the see the results and whatever they might read in the papers.
“But I can tell you, there’s a lot of hard work that goes on behind the scenes. It doesn’t just happen….What is important is to be honest and work hard, yet as my wife says, take time to smell the roses and enjoy your life.”
So wouldn’t Hilton prefer an easy life?
The business mogul pauses for a moment. “No… that would be boring.”
Wifely ambition
Born in New York, Kathy Hilton started early. The daughter of a stage mother, Kathy Dugan, she modelled as a small child before moving on to television, landing parts in shows such as ‘The Rockford Files’, ‘Bewitched’ and ‘Happy Days’.
But her star has really risen since her daughters became household names. From being a career socialite, Kathy has now become a brand name in her own right. She has fronted a number of television series, including the reality show ‘I Want to Be a Hilton’, where contestants vie for the chance to live the high-life.
The show was hosted by Kathy, and produced by her husband. Typical challenges included learning how to hold a wine glass correctly.
More recently, the Hilton matriarch signed a deal for her own skincare collection, branded as “reflecting the luxurious Kathy Hilton lifestyle’, which now sells on the Home Shopping Network.
She had previously fronted a series selling merchandise on QVC’s home shopping network.
Last year Kathy landed a role in the blockbuster film ‘Tropic Thunder’, playing opposite Tom Cruise as his wife. She also scored a guest slot in an episode of ‘The Young and the Restless’, a bestselling US soap, playing herself.
Born in New York, Kathy Hilton started early. The daughter of a stage mother, Kathy Dugan, she modelled as a small child before moving on to television, landing parts in shows such as ‘The Rockford Files’, ‘Bewitched’ and ‘Happy Days’.
But her star has really risen since her daughters became household names. From being a career socialite, Kathy has now become a brand name in her own right. She has fronted a number of television series, including the reality show ‘I Want to Be a Hilton’, where contestants vie for the chance to live the high-life.
The show was hosted by Kathy, and produced by her husband. Typical challenges included learning how to hold a wine glass correctly.
More recently, the Hilton matriarch signed a deal for her own skincare collection, branded as “reflecting the luxurious Kathy Hilton lifestyle’, which now sells on the Home Shopping Network.
She had previously fronted a series selling merchandise on QVC’s home shopping network.
Last year Kathy landed a role in the blockbuster film ‘Tropic Thunder’, playing opposite Tom Cruise as his wife. She also scored a guest slot in an episode of ‘The Young and the Restless’, a bestselling US soap, playing herself.
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