Of all the mysteries surrounding Michael Jackson’s three children, both before and since his death, the origin of the name of his daughter Paris has remained among the most clueless — up until now.

A month after the “Thriller” singer’s sudden demise, socialite Paris Hilton has laid claim to being the inspiration behind the naming of Jackson’s 11-year-old daughter.

Paris Hilton told celebrity TV show “Extra” that her family were close friends with Jackson. Her mother, Kathy, went to school with him for a while in California “and they were best friends since they were 13.”

“So I grew up knowing Michael very well and when he had his daughter, he always loved the name Paris and grew up being an uncle to me. So he asked my mom if it was okay, and of course she said ‘yes’ and I think she’s such a beautiful little girl and I’m proud we have the same name,” Hilton told Extra.

Kathy Hilton is the same age as Michael (50) and was one of the close family and friends who were invited to the singer’s public memorial in Los Angeles earlier this month. Paris made her comments while promoting her documentary “Paris, Not France”, which gets an airing on MTV next week.

But was Paris Jackson really named after Paris Hilton? And does the 11-year-old  know? If she was, then that solves one of the many mysteries surrounding the King of Pop. But now the question is, who was Blanket named for?

Celebrity heiress and businesswoman Paris Hilton is back in Cannes to drum up some interest in the documentary “Paris, Not France”, which follows her as she goes about her daily life being rich and famous.

The 28-year-old tried to prevent the film, directed by Tom Petty’s daughter Adria, from reaching the big screen, but now sees it as a  kind of set-the-record-straight exercise for someone whose portrayal in the media is not always flattering.

“I was a little scared,” Hilton told reporters at the Cannes film festival, where she said she was partying hard. “I filmed it over three years ago so it was a different period of my life.”

“It also shows how it is living in this life and how much pressure there is. It definitely shows a different side than the media portrays me as.”

You can read about the documentary here, from a story we did when it screened back at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2008.

Asked why she thrust herself into the limelight as much as she did, Hilton replied: “I have a brand, I have a business … I always have something to promote. I love doing it, it’s fun. I always loved Marilyn Monroe and she loved the camera and the camera loved her and I just think of her as one of my idols.”

Did that burglar get a lot more than we thought?

Or, was just greed?

Or, is she just a swag hag?

We’ll let you be the judge.

Word comes to us late on a Sunday night at the Sundance Film Festival that Paris Hilton left the Hollywood Life House gifting suite with 30 bags — 30 bags — stuffed full of free merchandise from Whiting & Davis, which makes metal mesh material and accessories.

Even the publicity people representing the Hollywood Life House seemed aghast, noting in a press release that the Hilton hotel heiress did it, “without shame.” And we’re wondering why she’s even here. It’s not like she’s in a movie at the festival.

Then again, only weeks ago her Los Angeles home was robbed, so maybe she needed the merchandise … Yeah, right.

It was only about 18 months ago, after getting out of jail, that Paris said she was a changed person. She wanted to travel to Rwanda to do good. She told Newsweek magazine, “Before, my life was about having fun, going to parties — it was a fantasy. But when I had time to reflect, I felt empty inside. I want to leave a mark on the world.”

But here she is, at Sundance, with her hand — oh c’mon, her two hands and 14 other assistant’s pairs of hands — in the celebrity swag bag.  In the middle of a global financial crisis with people losing their savings, losing their jobs, losing their homes, Paris Hilton – worth tens of millions, at the least — walks off with 30 bags of free merchandise. It is, at the least, shameful. Right?

It was love. It was forever. … Well, nine months at least. 

Paris Hilton and her rocker boyfriend Benji Madden of the band Good Charlotte have called it quits after dating since February, sources near the socialite-turned-reality TV star told Usmagazine.com and People.com.

“Even though they are still in love, they felt it would be better to just be friends,” one source told Us.

And the reason for the split? “Benji was overprotective and controlling. He doesn’t get along with any of her friends,” the source told Us.

Separately, a source told Peolpe that the two split up only a few days ago, and that Paris was saddened by the break. “They’re just too different and they wanted different things in life,” this source told People.

The sources seemed to agree in both magazines that the split had nothing to do with infidelity.

Hilton was spotted with her ex, shipping heir Stavro Niarchos in Miami last week while Madden was hanging out in New York with his brother, Joel, the boyfriend of Hilton’s best friend Nicole Richie. “Nothing went on between Parisand Stav in Miami,” said the source for Us.

We wonder if it had anything to do with Paris’ failed bid for the U.S. presidency. After all, the timing is fairly coincidental.

So much has been made about the looks of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin that it’s a wonder nobody’s paid attention to that other, third-party presidential candidate – Paris Hilton.

That’s right, election watchers may forget that this past summer Paris declared herself a candidate for President in a video posted on comedy Web site, funnyordie.com. Well, Paris hasn’t forgotten and to reinvigorate her campaign, she is releasing a new video at swaghousemedia.com on Sunday, Oct. 26.

A brief clip can be seen at People.com. The video features her “Secret Service Dudes,” and in it she talks about being good at sipping a martini and being the best “Commander-in-Bikini”.

Somehow, we think we won’t see Sarah Palin the same way anytime soon, but with the Nov. 4 election nearing, you never know what any of the candidates will do to get votes.

Dabble with Brad Pitt in cyberspace if you dare.

The Hollywood hearthrob Brad Pitt has overtaken Paris Hilton as the most dangerous celebrity to search for in cyberpace, according to the second annual study of by Internet security company McAfee.

The company found Web users searching for “Brad Pitt,” “Brad Pitt downloads,” and Brad Pitt wallpaper, screen savers and pictures had an 18 percent chance of having their computer infected with online threats, such as spyware, spam, phishing, adware, viruses and other malware.

A spokesman for McAfee said in a statement that cybercriminals were using A-list names and images, like Beyonce and Justin Timberlake, to lure people surfing for the latest gossip, screen savers and ringtones to “fake” Web sites.

Pitt and Justin Timberlake were found to be the most dangerous men to seek on the Internet, while Beyonce and Heidi Montag from “The Hills” topped the list for women. Paris Hilton, who topped 2007’s list of the most dangerous celebrity searches, was missing from this year’s list as was pop star Britney Spears who came fourth last year.

Maybe they should change the name of the MTV Video Music Awards to the Britneys.

For the second year in a row, Britney Spears took center stage at Sunday’s event, winning all three categories in which she was nominated, including the coveted video of the year.

Unfortunately, her triumph could be overshadowed by the failure of MTV’s hype machine.

After weeks of speculation, the cable channel confirmed a few days ago that Spears would open the show. No, she would not sing, but the network promised something fun and unexpected.

What viewers got was a drawn-out prerecorded skit in which the ungainly actor Jonah Hill used mind-control techniques to try to kiss her. Then we were treated to her brief, real-time trek from the dressing room to the stage, surrounded by flustered handlers.  Once in the spotlight, she awkwardly held her microphone over much of her face, and delivered four groundbreaking sentences.

“Thank you so much. Thank you for all the love. I’m here tonight to celebrate a very important birthday, the 25th anniverary of the VMAs. This is the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards and it starts right now.”

And that’s what evidently passes for fun at MTV these days.    

She went on to win the first three “Moonman” statuettes of her career, but her acceptance speeches were pretty bland. It’s hard to imagine that she showed up without a guarantee that she would win some hardware. How much more humiliation can the cable channel dish out to her following her disastrous lip-synch at last year’s show?

To be fair, no one really cares who wins at MTV’s flagship kudocast. It’s all about the performances and the drama and the fashion. Even with “real” awards shows like the Oscars and the Grammys, the key winners are usually erased from the public consciousness within a day or so.

Rihanna, Christina Aguilera, Pink and Kid Rock delivered memorable performances. (Disclaimer: Kid Rock’s performance of “All Summer Long,” a mashup of Sweet Home Alabama and Werewolves of London, was the only song I knew.)

On-stage fireworks were limited to a rather silly controversy initiated by host Russell Brand about the Jonas Brothers’ chastity vows. Jordin Sparks, Ashley Tisdale and Paris Hilton quickly came to the boys’ defence.

Ashley and Paris came back to the chilly, distant soundstage where the humble reporters were uncomfortably sequestered next to the photographers. They deigned to talk to us. People like Britney and LL Cool J ignored us as they made a bee line for the photo area.
 

A dance troupe called Fanny Pack executed a series of wacky poses for photograpers, but no one took their photos. No reporters were interested in talking to them.

The Pussycat Dolls posed with their Moonman statuette for best dancing in a video (a somewhat dubious accolade). Nicole Scherzinger, who had custody of the statuette, stayed on the podium posing long after her bandmates had left.

- Reporting by Dean Goodman

(Reporting by Ka Yan Ng)

Even before she arrives for the Toronto film festival, the business of being Paris Hilton has rolled into town.

Hilton made headlines on the first day of the Toronto International Film Festival when the New York Post’s Page Six reported that she forced festival organizers to cancel two of three screenings of a documentary about her, “Paris, Not France,” in order to amp up the promotional volume for the premiere.

“We wanted to create more buzz - create some hype . . . We felt the impact would be more extreme if we had one screening,” her spokesman Jason Moore is quoted as saying in the Post.

We tried to reach Moore and festival organizers, but neither was immediately available late in the afternoon. The film’s makers, however, did release a statement saying: “We are pleased to have this opportunity to screen the film. For a variety of reasons — which we are unable to discuss — the film will only be screened once. We are optimistic that the film will ultimately be released commercially, but we are not able to comment further.” 

Oh well. Paris happens.

The documentary is among the hottest — pardon the pun — titles here at Toronto. It is described on the Toronto web site as an exploration of the business of being Paris Hilton, and the human being behind the public persona. Its title is a nod to some polls that have revealed that amongst certain people, a higher percentage identify the name “Paris” with Hilton rather than with the Paris, France, according to the festival.

Directed by Adria Petty, the documentary is set to premiere on Tuesday and that debut, for now, appears to be the only showing. And one wonders, will the world feel the impact?

WASHINGTON - You knew she wouldn’t take this lying down.
 
Paris Hilton struck back Tuesday at Republican presidential candidate John McCain for running a campaign ad that likened Democratic rival Barack Obama’s celebrity to that of the blond socialite and to singer Britney Spears.

The video, posted on the Web site www.FunnyorDie.com, began with images of the 71-year-old Arizona senator: “He’s the oldest celebrity in the world, like super-old. Old enough to remember when dancing was a sin and beer was served in a bucket. But, is he ready to lead?”
    
Then the camera turned on the blond socialite, sitting on a poolside lounge chair in a skimpy leopard-print bathing suit.
    
“Hey America, I am Paris Hilton and I’m a celebrity too,” she said. “Only I’m not from the olden days and I am not promising change like that other guy. I’m just hot.”
    
“But then that wrinkly white-haired guy used me in his campaign ad, which I guess means I’m running for president. And I want America to know that I’m like, totally ready to lead.”

(Originally posted by Doina Chiacu)

New laws against paparrazzi? Who needs them?  If celebrities just kept their clothes on, the problem might go away. Anyhow, Lindsay’s got a girlfriend and Britney has cleaned up her act.

No, that’s not a paparazzi photo agency talking. It’s Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton explaining why he boycotted a city council meeting on Thursday to discuss what should be done to clamp down on out-of-control photographers.

Bratton says there are enough laws already on the books to deal with agressive paparrazzi and no new ones are needed. And here’s why.

“Half of this issue — actually about 90 percent of the issue is that
celebrities should keep their clothes on,” Bratton told Los Angeles’ Fox11 television on Thursday.

“Paris Hilton’s out of town, things are quiet; Lindsey Lohan’s got a
new girlfriend, that’s keeping things quiet; and evidently Britney has gone
straight now in terms of cleaning her act up, so basically paparazzi are losing
interest,” Bratton said.

It’s true. Compared to last year’s  daily round of celebs in trouble, getting jailed, arrested,  checking in and out of rehab and generally making news for all the wrong reason, it’s been relatively quiet on the Hollywood scandal front this summer.

And while that may be good for Bratton, it’s definitely bad news for the paparazzi.