Paris Hilton has passed down her love for animals to her children.
“I’ve been an animal lover my entire life, and I think it’s so important to really instill that into your children,” the 44-year-old TV star told PEOPLE.
Hilton, who shares son Phoenix Barron and daughter London Marilyn with husband Carter Reum, says her kids have “been around animals since they were born.”
“They love them so much, and they’re so gentle with them, and so kind and so loving,” she said, adding that introducing children to animals “really teaches them love, responsibility and empathy, as well as being kind and how to take care of something.”
“I love that my kids love animals just as much as me,” says Hilton, who recently released her new children’s television show, Paris & Pups.
Paris has been a very vocal and long-time animal lover with a special soft corner for dogs with her first being Tinkerbell, a teacup Chihuahua that appeared alongside the star on The Simple Life.
“Tinkerbell was my first love, and just my best friend, my sister, my sidekick, my family — my everything,” she recalls of the animal that died in 2015 at the age of 14.
The Stars Are Blind singer now looks back at pet ownership as something that prepared her for motherhood. “My dogs are my first babies before I had kids,” she says.
“They have brought so much happiness into my life, and they bring so much love to your life,” Paris Hilton concluded on having pets.
