Paris Hilton revealed the 'awkward' details behind the infamous 2006 paparazzi photo with Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan

Paris Hilton revealed the "awkward" truth behind the iconic paparazzi photograph of her, Britney Spears, and Lindsay Lohan.

In 2006, paparazzi snapped photographs of the trio as they left the Beverly Hills Hotel and squeezed into a black vehicle waiting outside. The photo has since become a much-reproduced emblem of 2000s pop culture royalty. 

In the latest episode of her "This is Paris" podcast, Hilton said the photos don't show how the meetup came about. Shortly after leaving a friend's party, Spears and Hilton were "swarmed by tons of paparazzi."

"Just as we were walking to the car, that's when Lindsay came up," Hilton said, before saying the run-in was "awkward" because she and Lohan were "having some drama." 

Hilton and Lohan's feud dominated headlines throughout 2006. Rumors swirled that Lohan was linked to Hilton's ex-boyfriend, Stavros Niarchos. 

At one point, Lohan told paparazzi that Hilton hit her in the arm with a drink at a party. One day later, Lohan was photographed with Hilton and Spears out on the town. 

"So as I was getting in the car, one of the paparazzi screamed at me, 'Is it true that you hit Lindsay?' And at that moment, all of a sudden, I saw Lindsay walking towards us, and I said, 'Why don't you just ask her?'" Hilton said, before recounting Lohan's answer as "something like, 'No, Paris would never hit me, I've known her since I'm 15.'"

"It was basically just, not admitting what she did," Hilton said. "It was quite awkward to be asked that question, and then it was just weird how the whole thing happened."

As Hilton tried to drive away from the cameras, she said Lohan got into her car. 

"I looked over, and she's in my car," Hilton said. "We weren't getting along, so I was polite."

Hilton said she didn't want to cause a scene because, "I didn't want to humiliate her in front of all the paparazzi and be like, 'Get out of my car.'"

Hilton said that people began "inventing stories" after the photographs were published because they had "no idea" what actually happened. 

Since then, the photographs have been transformed into merchandise like car sunshades, pins, tote bags, and t-shirts. 

Hilton shared photos from that night to her Twitter account in 2017 and later re-created the photo with Britney Spears and Queen Elizabeth II impersonators. 

Hilton further explained in the "This is Paris," episode that she and Lohan used to be close friends but fell apart after a disagreement. 

"She did a couple of things that really hurt me and just betrayed my trust and caused a lot of drama," said Hilton, adding that their friendship was "on and off."

However, Hilton said she recognizes that they were both young and immature at the time. 

"When I think about it now, we were just so young and immature," Hilton said. "It's just kind of like that high school drama, especially in the LA scene, and then also having to live it out in public with the media just constantly trying to stir things up and make things even worse than they are."

She added that back then, "the media just really enjoyed having girls feud with each other."

Hilton ended the segment by saying that she didn't hold a grudge and wished Lohan the best.

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