Paris Hilton was thinking more along the lines of community service the day she walked into Judge Michael Sauer's courtroom.
"That's what my lawyer said at the time. So, when [Sauer] sentenced me to that much time in jail, it was shocking, because that doesn't happen, ever," the heiress told CNN's Larry King Wednesday during her first television interview since walking away from Lynwood, California's Century Regional Correctional Facility and into her parents' arms Tuesday at 12:15 a.m.
"It wasn't for DUI, it was for suspended license," Hilton said, explaining why she wasn't expecting the gavel to bang quite so hard last month. (Hilton was jailed after her licenseless motoring was found to be a violation of her probation for alcohol-related reckless driving.)
Asked by King if she ever took drugs, Hilton repeatedly said no (contradicting some widely disseminated home videos viewable on The Smoking Gun), adding, "I'm not a big drinker, I'm not really into it."
And why was she following up her multipart punishment with a public appearance? "I just want to let people know what I went through."
A three-SUV brigade ferried Hilton and her entourage to CNN's Sunset Boulevard studio at about 2:45 p.m. Clad in an ivory dress with lace trim, the 26-year-old tabloid fixture gave a quick wave to the paparazzi, before rounding a corner into the building.
"I've been through a lot, and it was a really traumatic experience that I've really grown from," Hilton said.
As she was having her mug shot taken, "I was thinking, Oh my God, I can't believe I'm here. It didn't hit me that I was really in jail until I got in the cell."
"Just the whole idea of being in jail is really scary," she told King. "I hate to be alone, so that was really hard for me in the beginning…I had nightmares at night, about someone breaking into my cell and hurting me."
Then after three days, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca signed off on Hilton's transfer to house arrest, citing the socialite's medical condition.
Barely a day after that, she was back in jail.
"I was terrified," Hilton said, describing how it felt to wake up the morning after returning to her Hollywood Hills home to find out she was about to be handcuffed and taken back to court.
Without going into specifics, Baca—on the defensive with city officials and the media ever since he remanded Hilton to house arrest after her first three days behind bars—told the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Tuesday he didn't want an inmate death on his watch.
"I'll say this—I think we all in this room know something about suicide," Baca said. "As the sheriff of this county, I'm not going to let any inmate die in our jails. If I know something that can be done that solves the medical problem...what's worth more? Serving time in the county jail for driving on a suspended driver's license or a person losing their life?"
Attempting to shed light on what made Hilton's condition more urgent than others, King asked about the "medical reasons" that merited the Simple Life star's early release.
"I've suffered from claustrophobia my entire life," Hilton explained, later adding that she has been taking medication for attention deficit disorder since she was 12. "When I first got in my cell, I was having severe panic attacks, anxiety attacks…I wasn't sleeping, I wasn't eating. The doctors talked to the sheriff and could see that it would be better if I just stayed on house arrest."
Upon learning she was going back, "I just had to deal with it," she said. But "if I was going to be there, I had to make the best of it."
Hilton said that, to pass the time, she meditated, read and wrote letters, wrote in her journal (she pulled out a stack of papers to show King) and ultimately, decided to make some adjustments in her lifestyle and behavior.
"It made me realize that God makes everything happen for a reason," she continued. "He gave me a time-out in life to figure out what's really important.
"Even though I hated it, I'm glad it happened, in a way, because it changed my life forever. I feel stronger than ever…I feel like this is a blessing in disguise."
And more on the bright side: "You don’t really have any privacy in jail, but it was nice to be away from all the flashes for a while."
Reiterating what she told E! News' Ryan Seacrest in a phone conversation four days before her release, Hilton said she was determined to be an all-around better person and discussed her decision to part ways with certain people who may have contributed to some of her less upstanding decisions of late.
"I've gotten rid of a lot of people," she told King. "Especially in Los Angeles, there are a lot of people who like people for all the wrong reasons…I had to cut a lot of people out.
"I think, in life, everyone makes mistakes, and you have to learn and grow from them. I've been immature in the past and made some wrong choices. But I've learned form them, and that's what makes me the person I am today…I've definitely matured and grown a lot from this experience. I don't know. I'm 26 years old. I'm an adult, and I need to just grow up. I need to be a more responsible role model."
On Thursday morning, King and Seacrest compared notes on Ryan's KIIS-FM radio show.
"She gives you shorter answers than you would like," King said. "I could have used more introspection. And I think she’s finding herself. She's 26 years old. She’s been raised with more money than God. And you’ve got to face life as she’s tried to face it."
King seemed dubious of some of Hilton's responses, notably her newfound interest in God and the Bible ("She was weak in the Bible part, in that moment [when she couldn't cite a specific verse]"), her medical condition ("I had a friend who had claustrophobia, and they let him out. If you have true claustrophobia, I mean, you're banging on the walls. A true claustrophobic couldn't exist in jail") and especially her denials of being a party animal.
"I don’t think anyone believes she’s never done drugs," King told Seacrest. "When you do some things, the best way to be is to say that you did them. Then the audience will believe you. The worst is to try to [deny] it. And I think that’s hard to take."
Overall, however, King felt the interview, which drew about 3.2 million (nearly triple the typical audience), was a success: "I don’t think you turned it off. I thought she looked good. For someone who’d been in jail, she looked fine."
Hilton told King she sees Tuesday as "the happiest day of my life," adding that it was "hard to describe" but "so exciting" to see her mom and dad waiting for her outside the jail. "It's overwhelming just to be out, to be free again."
This is a sentiment akin to what she told People Tuesday night at her grandfather's mansion, where she went immediately after the family cavalry arrived to pick her up from jail earlier that day, followed closely by a massive Taco Bell delivery, her hairstylist and scores of well-wishers.
"Thank God I'm free!" she told the magazine.
And it was pretty nice see her family again without the bulletproof barrier. "Just being able to hug my mom felt so great, and I really needed it, 'cause I haven't had a hug in a long time," she said.
Visitors to the Holmby Hills estate that night (aside from the shutterbugs, of course), per E! News, included an uncle, an unidentified female visitor and Nicole Richie's mom, toting a celebratory cake decorated with the message, "We love you, Brenda & Nicole."
When asked about the skeptics who haven't put much stock in Hilton's vow to change her ways since seeing how the other half lives, she told Seacrest her intentions were true, including her plan to open a halfway house for female inmates to ease their transition back into society.
"They're wrong, and they don't know me. I'm a good person," she said. "I'm a compassionate person. I have a big heart. I'm sincere—and they'll see."