Paris Hilton is engaged to venture capitalist Carter Reum, a Glenbard South High School graduate with deep roots in Illinois.
“When you find your soulmate, you don’t just know it. You feel it. My love & I have been together since our first date, and for my birthday, he arranged a special trip to tropical paradise. As we walked to dinner along the beach, Carter led us to a cabana adorned with flowers and dropped to one knee. I said yes, yes to forever. There’s no one I’d rather spend forever with,” Hilton posted on Instagram Wednesday, which was her 40th birthday.
Reum proposed to Hilton, a reality TV veteran, DJ and hotel heiress, on a private island Feb. 13 with an emerald cut diamond ring designed by Jean Dousset, Vogue reported. The custom ring — called “Paris” — was inspired by the Eiffel Tower and Grand Palais.
“I have gotten the unique opportunity to get to know the real Paris on a daily basis just the two of us during these past 15 months, and I couldn’t be more excited and lucky to have her as my future wife and partner,” Reum said in a statement to People magazine. “She shines with her kindness, work ethic, authenticity and her voice in making the world a better place and she will do the same as a future mother and wife.”
Hilton plans to discuss the engagement on her new iHeartRadio podcast, “This is Paris,” which is scheduled to premiere Monday. Hilton said last month she has been trying to start a family with Reum. The pair debuted their relationship at a Golden Globe Awards after-party in January 2020.
Reum, 40, is an entrepreneur who founded M13 — a consumer technology venture capital firm — with his brother, Courtney, after selling their spirits company VEEV. Their father, W. Robert Reum, was the chairman, president and CEO of Chicago-based Amsted Industries, a manufacturer of industrial components. Their grandfather, Walter Reum, was an Illinois House representative, while their grandmother, Lucy Reum, served as chairman of the Illinois Racing Board. A Tribune obituary noted Lucy Reum “was instrumental in the 1970 passage of the Illinois Constitution” as a delegate to the Illinois Constitutional Convention.
Reum attended Elgin Academy, played soccer for Glenbard South as part of the class of 1999 and graduated from Columbia University. Media outlets are reporting this is Hilton’s fourth engagement.
tswartz@tribpub.com
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