Paris Hilton picked on as a child

Paris Hilton's aunt has revealed how the spoiled socialite was bullied as a child.

Kyle Richards — the sister of Kathy Hilton — has had a close relationship with her niece since she was young.

And she is now lifting the lid on the spoiled socialite's childhood admitting she was picked on.

"There was jealousy and being picked on and I had to go down there a few times and straighten some people out because she was definitely picked on," she said on an A&E biography special on Paris. "People would hear the last name and she was always a beautiful girl and that doesn't make for making a lot of friends with girls. She always had this attitude that she didn't care what people thought but she definitely did."

Richards even revealed where Paris' love of animals stemmed from.

"She had every animal you could think of as a child," she said. "She had so many ferrets and dogs, cats, it would be nothing for her to stick a mouse in your purse and wait for reaction when you opened the purse and there was a big rat in there with a huge tail hanging out."

And she believes Paris' hoard of pets now is just her practicing to be a parent.

"She talks about wanting to be a mum. And all her animals are like her practicing. She will make a very good mum, very nurturing and she has good maternal instincts."

Paris has become famous for her partying antics and her rich girl attitude. But her younger sister Nicky insists the pair —who both have an empire of business ventures including clothing and perfume lines — are not spoiled.

"I hate it when people or newspapers say, the Hilton heiresses don't do anything. I mean what were you doing when you were 20 years old that was so important? Back off.

"My mother has always been very supportive of Paris and I and advising us to work. I don't understand these children who don't do anything. It is just very unfulfilling to me to just take your parents money and go shopping because you don't feel good about yourself."

But their father Rick says he still gives Nicky, 22, and Paris, 24, an allowance.

"In terms of the girls being able to support themselves they definitely can but what I do for them is that Kathy and I give them a monthly allowance which pays for their basics, their rent, their car payment and their cell phone bill which can be, depending on the month, quite large."

But one family who is not keen on Paris' spoiled ways was the Ledings who took Paris and Nicole Richie in while they filmed their reality show The Simple Life.

"When she first arrived I gave her the benefit of the doubt she has never lived life like this," said Janet Leding who had Paris milking cows on her farm in Arkansas. "But when she left I just thought she is a spoiled, rotten little brat who will never do anything. When she turned up she was the sweetest thing then next day I was like, 'where did that sweet girl go?'"

But Nicky says her sister is nothing like she is on the show and that she was just playing a character for it.

"Paris is nothing like her character on 'The Simple Life," said Nicky — who was originally pegged to co-star with Paris but turned the offer down. "Paris is like one of the best cooks you will ever meet. She is a neat freak. We live together and if I have dishes in the sink or clothes on the floor she will freak out.

"I think Paris learned so much by leaving New York and Los Angeles and our scene and going to middle of nowhere and seeing how everyone else lives and doing things she would never do. She wouldn't be milking cows in the middle of L.A I think she learned to appreciate what she has back home."

Paris and Nicky have made such a name for themselves that their dad laughs at how they have stolen the Hilton name.

"It is interesting that the Hilton name has been branded as a hotel name. But now with Paris and Nicky's success my poor father who has worked his whole life, people come up to ask if he is related to Paris and Nicky and they do it to me too. It is hilarious."