Michael was fiercely protective of his children, and for the first 12 years of Paris’ life, she was home-schooled—meaning “the only interactions I’d ever had were with family members or other adults,” she says. As a result, Paris “didn’t have social skills. I had to force myself to learn so fast. For the past six years, I’ve been learning how to communicate.”

Fortunately, she says, “I think I’ve gotten pretty good at it.”

In the eight years that followed Michael’s death, Paris tried to commit suicide several times, and she eventually sought treatment at age 15. A self-proclaimed “weird kid,” Paris “always wanted to kind of break off and do my own thing, just ’cause I feel I enjoy independence very much.” But independence wasn’t necessarily what she expected—or what she needed. “Once I got introduced into the real world, I was shocked. It blew me away,” she says. “Not just because it was sexist, but misogynist and racist and cruel. It was scary as hell. And it still is really scary.”