It's hard playing an airhead, says Paris

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Paris Hilton said today that it was hard "playing up to the image" of being an airhead but she was not as stupid as people thought.

The 27-year-old heiress said she engineered the "character" for MTV show A Simple Life.

She said in a GMTV interview: "For five seasons I was stuck doing this character. It was kind of hard always having to play that character when it's not who I am.

"I know exactly who Gordon Ramsay is, I know exactly who Gordon Brown is. I was just eating in Gordon Ramsay's restaurant in LA so I know that he's like a chef.

"I just say jokes but people think I'm serious which I think is funny and I think I kind of play up to the image sometimes because - whatever - it's entertainment."

Hilton, who was more than 15 minutes late to appear on the programme, is in London to launch a new show on ITV2.

In the show, which starts tomorrow, 12 young hopefuls battle it out to be crowned her official "British best friend".

But she said it was difficult to trust people to get close to her.

She said: "It's difficult because you never know what people's intentions are and I think a lot of girls have become my friend for the wrong reasons and used me and I didn't realise it but now throughout the years I'm realising who those kind of people are."

She added: "I love London, it's one of my favourite cities in the world. I love British people.

"I love the accent, I think it's very elegant and sexy."

Hilton said of her prison sentence, which she served in a California jail in 2007 for violating probation on a driving ban: "I don't think it was fair. I think it was just because it was me and I don't think it was right because I haven't seen anyone else that happened to.

"But I did it and went through it and it was a learning experience.

"I'm a strong person. I've been through a lot."