Paris Hilton has vowed to cast off her party-girl image and prove that she is a changed person after serving three weeks behind bars for violating probation in a drunken-driving case.

“I’m a good person. I’m a compassionate person. I have a big heart. I’m sincere, and they’ll see,” Hilton told People magazine at her grandfather's mansion in Bel Air, in her first interview since getting out of jail in Los Angeles at midnight on Monday.

Appearing later on CNN’s Larry King Live show, the hotels heiress and reality television show performer was dressed in white lace and appeared subdued and softly spoken. She 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.

We'll always have Paris

She's dismissed as an airhead heiress and the queen of trashy modern celebrity. But is there an enduring icon behind the glitzy blonde facade? Giles Hattersley meets Paris Hilton

BACKGROUND

• Paris Hilton: a jailbird no more

• Paris Hilton is behind bars

• Paris shares cell with jailbird who won’t sing

• Paris does porridge

• All the thrills and spills of Hilton’s celebrity trial

Multimedia

• Audio: listen to Paris' attempted pop career

Related Links

• Hilton skips out of jail after 23 days

• After the jail term, Paris Hilton does party time

“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’."

The 26-year-old multimillionairess said she felt bad that many of her former fellow inmates would end up back on the streets, and back in trouble, because they lack family or support systems.

“I want to help set up a place where these women can get themselves back on their feet ... kind of a transitional home,” she said. “I know I can make a difference.”

During her first week in jail, Hilton called television journalist Barbara Walters and pledged to change her party-going ways and give new meaning to her life by working for children’s, breast cancer and multiple sclerosis charities.

Last night she acknowledged that she has long enjoyed the Hollywood party scene but added: “It’s not going to be the mainstay of my life anymore."

“I’ve definitely matured and grown a lot from this experience,” she told King. “I could be a more responsible role model.”

She spoke in both interviews about why she was briefly released to home detention after just three days in jail - a move swiftly overruled by a judge after a public outcry over whether she was given special treatment.

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