Paris-dise Lost

It’s over. After weeks of boundless speculation over ParisHilton’s engagement to Greek shipping heir ParisLatsis, a source very close to the groom’s family says that thewedding plans are off—and have been for months.

It all began in July, when Latsis reportedly took his bride-to-be to meet hisparents on their yacht anchored near Mykonos—only to be preemptedby an exposé on Hilton in the Greek tabloid Very Sorry thatincluded highlights from her sexual resumé and stills from One Nightin Paris. The Latsises, a staunchly conservative Greek Orthodox family thatuntil recently was sheltered from the media whirl, had dismissed talk ofHilton’s sordid exploits as ungrounded gossip. But when embarrassing articles abouther began appearing in their local papers, they decided to take a closerlook.

Enter Rick and Kathy Hilton, arriving in sunnyGreece to get chummy with their high-falutin’ in-laws. “They weresupposed to meet with the Latsises, but after Mrs. Latsis found out what wasgoing on from the Greek papers, she quickly hopped on a boat and refused tomeet with them,” says the source. “For their son to even think ofmarrying such a woman is an insult to the entire family. She simply looks like apromiscuous innkeeper’s daughter to them. Paris Latsis knew this, whichis why he didn’t tell his mother the whole story. He knew shewouldn’t agree to the match.”

And he was right. “When Paris Hilton realized what was going on, shewas fuming—fuming!—at her supposed fiancé for not standing upfor her and for the embarrassment she and her family were going through,”we’re told. “They had flown half-way around the world to behumiliated.”

Since then the engagement has existed only in tabloids (and the pages ofVanity Fair, whose cover story and photo shoot of the happycouple were completed weeks before the trip, we’re told). “Paris istrying to save her image, denying the truth, but in reality, Latsis dumped heron orders from his family, specifically his mother,” the source says.“It’s a reality check for her and her parents.”

In the two months since, West Coast sources say, Hilton has beenrebounding—or at least making a strained attempt to convince people thatshe’s rebounding—with her producer, Scott Storch.At Nacional in L.A. a few nights ago, she talked nonstop about Storch and his“genius,” we’re told. “Every chance she had when someoneasked what she was up to she went on and on about Storch.” Her L.A.-based“fiancé,” of course, was nowhere in sight.