| Paris Hilton sued
by ex-boyfriend
Los Angeles — Paris Hilton's ex-boyfriend filed a $10-million (U.S.) slander lawsuit against the hotel heiress and reality TV star with whom he made a sex video three years ago. Richard Salomon maintains in the suit that Hilton was an "active participant" in making the video tape but she and her family have waged a "cold, calculated and malicious campaign to portray Salomon as a rapist" to protect her image. The suit, filed Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, names Hilton, her parents and a publicist, Siri Garber. Messages left for Garber on Thursday evening were not immediately returned. Hilton's lawyers are threatening legal action against anyone who distributes the tape or fails to destroy their copy of it, but purported snippets have been offered on eBay. Family representatives have said they are trying to determine whether Salomon, 33, was involved in releasing the sex tape, which he denies. Salomon's lawyer, Martin Singer, has said a friend of his client stole the sex videotape. Salomon, the estranged husband of former Charmed actress Shannen Doherty, contends in the lawsuit that the defendants "implied to the press" that Hilton was incapacitated and was therefore sexually assaulted during the 27-minute video . In the suit, Salomon states that the Paris Hilton "posed and preened" during the video, said "hi" to the camera and stops to answer her cell phone. Hilton, who was 19 when the tape was made, is soon to star in Fox's new reality series, The Simple Life, set to launch on Dec. 2. In the show, she leaves the urban social scene to live in a rural, working-class environment. |