Paris Hilton Pimps Handbags in India, Nips Poverty in the Bud by Handing Out Cash

In town to promote her purse boutiques, heiress vows to help out and asks fans for charity suggestions

By Natalie Finn Sep 26, 2011 8:30 PMTags
Paris HiltonAP Photo/Rajanish Kakade

Paris Hilton's trip to India hasn't been all handbags and five-star hotels after all.

In Mumbai to promote her new line of purses, the namesake-product maven was having "the best time," according to her various tweets. But, mixed in with the "#Indian food is delicious," Hilton's eyes were opening to the fact that a disturbingly large portion of the capital city's 13 million residents live in abject poverty.

And Paris did indeed put her money where her tweets were, as she was photographed reaching through the window of her chauffeured SUV to hand a $100 bill (5,054 Indian rupees) to a woman and two children on the side of the road.

"#India is beautiful, but some parts are very poverty stricken. Broke my heart to see babies sleeping on the streets :(" Hilton wrote Monday after a weekend that included a dinner party with her business partners and appearances at Paris Hilton Handbags boutiques in several shopping centers.

Then it was onto a photo shoot that Paris said was "going amazing," but an hour later she added, "What are the most credible non-profit charity organizations here in #India? After seeing what I've seen, I want to help make a difference."

And, a few hours after that: "Thank you all for your suggestions on what the best charities in #India are. It's so important to give back to those who are less fortunate."

Of course, Paris' on-the-go altruism didn't convince everyone, but one of her fans tweeted to a skeptic: "The photo seen in press w/ mom & baby isn't the 1st. Paris does this all the time."

This is the heiress who performed 28 more hours of community service than were required to complete her recent term of probation, after all.