Paris Hilton is making it clear that she’s not the blonde bimbo character she played on The Simple Life.

“It follows me in my real life, everything I’ve done before was me playing a character,” she reflected while at the Winter TCA press tour promoting her upcoming YouTube documentary This is Paris. “I was talking about things that are very hard to talk about. It was an amazing experience but it was very scary. I was freaking out.”

The reality show followed Paris and Nichole Richie as they took low-paying jobs and struggled in rural America.

Paris explained that she knew she had to play up her “character” and realized what the public reaction would be as a result.

“I was in on the joke,” she said. “Sometimes it is annoying people assuming I am the blonde airhead that I played on the show, but I like proving people wrong.”

Good for you, Paris!