Whether you can't stand selfies or have a light-up phone case so that you never have an excuse to snap a sub-par self-portrait, the biggest trend to hit social media isn't going away anytime soon. Selfies are so ubiquitous that it's hard to imagine a time when they didn't exist at all — or the moment when they were invented in the first place.
Now, a certain celebrity is taking credit for the trend — and, no, it's not a Kardashian. Paris Hilton just claimed she invented the selfie, and even has a specific photo that dates the selfie's origins to 2006.
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It wasn't just Hilton who put her stamp on the selfie: She also stated that her pal, Britney Spears, was technically the co-founder of the digital self-portrait.
"11 years ago today, Me & Britney invented the selfie!," Hilton tweeted, along with two photos of the stars hanging out on today's date in 2006.
11 years ago today, Me & Britney invented the selfie! pic.twitter.com/1byOU5Gp8J
— Paris Hilton (@ParisHilton) November 19, 2017
This starkly contrasts former Hilton closet organizer Kim Kardashian, who, in the introduction for her 2015 book Selfish (a.k.a. a curated collection of Kardashian's own selfies), insists she was taking selfies way before it was cool. In fact, it was before the iPhone (a favorite selfie tool) was even a thing.
"I took pictures of myself with digital cameras when I was in junior high and high school, and I just got hooked...I was always obsessed with selfies," wrote Kardashian, per TMZ.
No matter who really invented the selfie (can one person even take credit for such an act?), I'm happy they did. Sure, it may be easy to poke fun at the person constantly vamping for their front-facing camera, but selfies are one way to show the world what you want them to see — to control your own narrative. That's something both Hilton and Kardashian — two businesswomen with lucrative careers who ooze self-confidence in every facet of their life — are experts at doing.
Now, who wants to take credit for those MySpace mirror pics?
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