Let the makeover begin for Paris Hilton
One day Paris Hilton is screaming for her mommy as she is cuffed and taken to the pokey in a reckless driving case. The next, she's the model of magnanimity, saying she wouldn't appeal her 45-day sentence and that she is "learning and growing" from her time behind bars.
An insincere buffing of an image scuffed like a pair last season's Jimmy Choos? Maybe. Effective? Probably, say veteran Hollywood image-makers.
"Based on the way the story has been playing out, this is a good move for her," said Michael Levine, who has served as publicist for dozens of celebrities, including Michael Jackson, Barbara Streisand and Bill O'Reilly. "Experience has taught me that celebrities respect wisdom but obey pain. What I mean by that is that when they feel the heat, they see the light."
If Levine were working with the celebutante, he would recommend she show she has learned from the experience by fading from the party scene for a while and getting behind sympathetic causes like Angelina Jolie, who traded her bad-girl credentials to become a mother and a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations.
"When you're in a hole, it's generally a good idea to stop digging ... from doing the same idiotic stuff that got you in trouble in the first place," Levine said.
Hilton's publicist, Elliott Mintz, did not immediately return e-mail or phone messages.
