The Hiltons: The True Story of an American Dynasty by J. Randy Taraborrelli

Author:J. Randy Taraborrelli
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Biography & Autobiography / Rich & Famous, Biography & Autobiography / Business, Biography & Autobiography / Entertainment & Performing Arts
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2014-04-01T00:00:00+00:00

PART NINE

In His Father’s House

Nicky Causing Problems

The death of his mother saw Nicky Hilton plummet to the deepest, darkest pits of despair. Mary had been a great ally, a true confidante, and now she was gone. In response to the loss, his demons took over; Nicky turned to liquor and pills to alleviate the pain, especially Seconal. At the time, Seconal was widely prescribed to high-profile people with particularly stressful careers. Because Nicky had been taking the drug for so long, Trish didn’t see it as a problem. She felt he was in good hands because his doctor, Lee Siegel, was a good friend, as was Siegel’s wife of forty-seven years, Noreen Nash Siegel.

“Nicky suffered terribly from insomnia,” Noreen Nash Siegel recalled, “and my husband was treating it as best he could. Though the Seconal would relax him, I think maybe it was prescribed too much back then. It’s important to note, though, that Nicky wasn’t just scoring drugs on the street to get high. He was under a doctor’s care. My husband was doing the best he could for Nicky. Many times, he gave him pills that were half sugar and half sleeping ingredient. He sent him to a hypnotist at one point to deal with the sleep issue. He loved him and he was in many ways a father figure to him. He wanted to help him. But it was a tough battle.”

A memorable turning point had occurred a couple of years into Nicky and Trish’s marriage during a vacation in Acapulco. Nicky combined Seconal with alcohol to the point where he became so sick, a frightened Trish flushed all of the pills down the toilet. It was the worst thing she could have done, as she later learned. “It forced him into a withdrawal he couldn’t handle and the next three days were sheer hell,” she recalled. “He was having convulsions and I thought he was going to die. Finally, a Mexican doctor prescribed some more Seconal, which we gave Nicky in low doses until he finally came around.”

“Though he was still functional,” recalled Stewart Armstrong, who had been Nicky’s assistant when Nicky was heading up the Inns Division of the Hilton Hotels Corporation, and who had maintained a close friendship with him, “there was a definite shift in his efficiency after Mary died. I remember Trish saying to me, ‘It’s a bad time, but I know Nicky will pull it together. I’m just afraid that Connie won’t see it that way.’ She was right: Connie did not see it that way. Adding to the pressure was that Nicky and Trish had just purchased an opulent stone colonial estate in Holmby Hills for $450,000 [the equivalent of more than $3 million today]. So the financial pressure was on as well.”

Along with his new position at the company came a whole new set of responsibilities for Nicky Hilton at a time when he was ill-prepared to handle them. There were many days—more days than anyone could count—when he simply didn’t show up for work.

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