Today scores post-prison Paris interview: reports
The New York Post has set rumour mills abuzz on Thursday with its report that NBC-TV's Today show has scored the first post-prison interview with Paris Hilton.
According to the Post, the jailed hotel heiress will receive $1 million US for her chat with Today host Meredith Vieira the day after Hilton's release.
Hilton is expected to emerge from the Lynwood Detention Center in southern California as early as Monday, after serving about half of her original 45-day prison sentence.
Some expected veteran U.S. TV personality Barbara Walters to win the first post-slammer interview with the tabloid princess because of her friendship with Hilton's mother, Kathy.
Walters is the only reporter to have spoken to Hilton during her incarceration — a phoneconversation she recounted the next day on her daytime The View show.
On June 10, Hilton reportedly told Walters that she was no longer going to "act dumb" because "that act is no longer cute."
As of Thursday afternoon, NBC has not confirmed the interview. Hilton's publicist declined comment.
Fan letters fill crates: reports
Various reports this week said that Hilton is receiving a flood of fan mail in jail, and authorities were forced to call her representatives to retrieve crates of letters being sent to the facility.
Hilton was transferred to Lynwood after spending a few days under observation in the medical ward of the Twin Towers Correctional Facility.
The notorious party girl and reality TV star has been at the centre of a media storm since, after being repeatedly stopped by police for driving violations, she was convicted and sentenced to 45 days in jail.
After turning herself in to authorities on June 3, sheriff's officials released her to house arrest just four days later. After an immediate public uproar, the judge who originally sentenced Hilton ordered her to appear in court and then back behind bars the following day.
Hilton had been incarcerated for violating her probation in her alcohol-related reckless driving case.
With files from the Associated Press