Socialite Paris Hilton said last night that being jailed was a "traumatic experience" which saw her curled up in the foetal position crying hysterically.
But the 26-year-old told CNN's Larry King that she believed that God made "everything happen for a reason" and that her time behind bars had changed her. "I have a new outlook on life," she said.
The hotel heiress was released from her Californian prison cell on Tuesday after serving 23 days of a 45-day sentence for a probation violation.
A subdued Hilton, who was dressed in white lace and spoke softly during the interview, said: "It was a very traumatic experience, but I feel like God does make everything happen for a reason. And it gave me a time-out in life just to really find out what was important and what I want to do and find out who I am. I have a new outlook on life.
"The beginning was really hard, really hard for me, it's a bit of a blur it was so traumatic.
"But after being there for a while I had to accept I could either make the best of it or the worst of it, so I lived by the motto, 'Don't serve the time, let the time serve you'."
Read the full transcript of Paris’s interview with Larry King and watch clips here
