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Fashion designer Nicky Hilton looks back with regret on her past use of tanning beds.
Fashion designer Nicky Hilton
Now 42, Hilton finds it hard to fathom why she once subjected her skin to ultraviolet (UV) rays just to achieve a sun-kissed look.
In an interview with the latest issue of Britain’s HELLO! magazine, when asked if there’s a period she wishes she could forget, Nicky remarked, “Probably the tanning-bed era. When I look back at some of those photos, I was just… very tanned.”
She added, “Considering how much I prioritize skin care now, it’s shocking to me that I would ever put my skin through that.”
The star’s mom, Kathy Hilton, 67, inspired her to have a career in the fashion and beauty industry.
Nicky shared: “I knew I wanted to do something in fashion. I loved sneaking into my mom’s closet and watching the process of getting ready – picking the outfit, the jewellery, the handbag and accessories.
“I was always a girly girl. I loved dressing up.”
The socialite – who appeared alongside actress Kathy and sister Paris Hilton, 45, in a campaign for Valentino in 2020 – said one of her style icons is 44-year-old Catherine, Princess of Wales.
Nicky explained: “I think she’s so beautiful and always looks so great. I love how she dresses her children [Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis], and I think she’s such a good role model. I’m a big fan.”
The blonde beauty and her 40-year-old husband, financier James Rothschild, got married in 2015 at the Orangery in Kensington Palace Gardens – just a stone’s throw from Princess Catherine and her husband, William, Prince of Wales’ London residence.
Nicky and James – who met at ex-couple model Petra Ecclestone, 37, and 44-year-old businessman James Stunt’s Rome wedding in 2011 – live in London with their children, daughters Lilly-Grace, nine, and Theodora “Teddy”, eight, and three-year-old son, Chasen, and they love life in the British capital.
Nicky said: “It reminds me a lot of New York, but without the frantic pace. I’ve been coming here since I was a little girl, so I’ve always loved it.
“It’s nice for the children because my husband’s English, so we get to see their cousins and their grandmother and enjoy more family time.
“That’s been a lot of fun for them – learning about London, where their father grew up, going to the same parks he went to and seeing his old school. It’s sweet.”
Although Nicky lives in the UK, the star tries to see Kathy, her dad, Rick Hilton, 70, and siblings, Paris, Barron Hilton II, 36, and Conrad Hughes Hilton, 32, when she can.
Speaking about Los Angeles-based Paris, Nicky said: “Now that we’re living on totally different sides of the world, we don’t see each other as much, but when we do get together, we have the best time.”
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