In January, Paris Hilton shocked the world by revealing that she and her husband, entrepreneur Carter Reum, had secretly welcomed a baby, a son they named Phoenix.
The news also came as a major surprise to Paris’s own mom, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Kathy Hilton.
In an interview last week, Kathy opened up about the moment she met her new grandson and the “shock” of her daughter’s reveal.
“We didn’t have our Christmas together because she was working out of the country,” the Bravo star said. “She said, ‘I have a surprise for you,’ and it was my Christmas present.” Paris surprised her mother with a blue Chanel handbag.
After a few minutes, her daughter told her, “I have one more surprise for you.”
The Bravo star said she was expecting a puppy, because she and her husband, hotel heir Rick Hilton, had recently lost their own dog.
Instead, Paris came in holding onto a blanket, which she then dropped to reveal baby Phoenix.
“She walks in, blanket falls down, and I just go, ‘Who is this? What is this?’” Kathy recalled to Extra.
“I was in complete shock,” Kathy said.
Kathy Hilton opens up about meeting her grandson: ‘I was in complete shock’
The spectacularly named Phoenix Barron Hilton-Reum was born via surrogate in January.
But new parents Paris and Carter kept the news of his arrival secret from almost everyone in their lives — immediate family included — until after he was born, in what Rolling Stone referred to as “one of the most impressive moves in the history of celebrity.”
Earlier this month, Paris opened up about the decision to keep things quiet in an interview with Rolling Stone, telling the outlet, “My whole life has been, just, invaded; I felt like, for my baby, I just wanted him to come into the world and just be here.”
Paris also shared her version of the story her mom told Extra, recounting how, after Kathy was presented with her new grandson, the Bravo star started to cry.
“She’s like, ‘Let me hold him. He’s the most beautiful baby I’ve ever seen in my life. Oh, he’s so beautiful.’ She was just in tears,” the hotel heiress said.
RHOBH’s Kathy Hilton loving grandma role
Since meeting the little one, Kathy has embraced the grandma role.
When the star caught up with Extra, she had just seen her grandson a few hours earlier.
“He is such a little angel,” she gushed to the outlet, adding that the baby is “getting heavier and heavier every few days.”
Last month, she and Paris celebrated little Phoenix’s arrival with a three-generation photo shoot.
Kathy shared a snap of the three Hiltons posing on Instagram.
“From Paris to Phoenix, home is where the heart is,” the Bravo star captioned her post, “and my [heart] is right here with these two.”
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills is currently on hiatus.