Kathy Hilton did not have the traditional grandma preparation time. There were no baby showers or mother-daughter shopping sprees for baby clothes. Her daughter Paris Hilton and son-in-law Carter Reum did not tell her they were expecting with the help of a surrogate.
Kathy first met their son Phoenix Barron Hilton Reum when he was 1 week old. It was a total surprise and she didn’t know it was going to happen. The meeting was chronicled on Paris’ reality show, Paris in Love. Kathy opened up about this on a recent appearance on The Jennifer Hudson Show.
Kathy cried watching the footage from the show. "Just watching that again, oh! So beautiful," she said through happy tears. "It's a happy time. I couldn't believe it though."
Kathy thought Paris might be giving her a new pet at first because Rick Hilton, Paris’ dad, had just lost his dog. "Well, Paris is always surprising, I think all of us, she's always doing something. So, when she came out she had these other gifts for me because it has just been Valentine's Day or Christmas, she came out and … I thought it's either a new puppy or a monkey," Kathy recalled.
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"I could not believe it and just so sweet," Kathy said. Kathy was already a grandma to five adorable kids. Phoenix brought the total up to six.
Kathy is amazed at how he’s grown in the last six months. "He is so long and big and he's getting hair and smiles … it's really something to have my first baby having her first baby,” Kathy gushed. Paris wasn’t quite done with the surprises.
On Thanksgiving Day 2023, Paris introduced her family to her daughter London Marilyn Hilton Reum. London was also born via surrogate and was a surprise to most of Paris' family. “Now with London — we have Irish twins," Kathy added.
Paris opened up to Jennifer about how she felt introducing her son to Kathy. "I was really nervous. Just to surprise someone with something like that, is quite the surprise, as my mom said I am full of surprises but that was on another level, it was just so emotional too, such a special moment," Paris recalled.
At first, Kathy was a bit hurt that Paris hid her journey to motherhood from her. She now has a deeper understanding of why. "I totally understand. And you're giving respect to — as far as privacy — I think when you have surrogates, it's protecting them and God forbid one person tells one person and then … I knew eventually this was in the process but I didn't know when," she explained.
Paris and Carter chose to use surrogates because of safety concerns. The new family of four couldn’t be happier. Grandma Kathy is also so very proud.
