Paris Hilton said she believes God has given her a second chance to change her life.
Speaking in a June 10 phone call to television journalist Barbra Walters, the celebrity heiress said her jail term for violating her probation in a drunken-driving case has given her new insight.
"I'm not the same person I was," she said. "I used to act dumb. It was an act. I am 26-years-old, and that act is no longer cute. It is not who I am, nor do I want to be that person for the young girls who looked up to me. I know now that I can make a difference, that I have the power to do that. I have been thinking that I want to do different things when I am out of here. I have become much more spiritual. God has given me this new chance."
Hilton spoke from the medical wing of a Los Angeles jail to which she was ordered to return on June 8, after earlier spending three nights in confinement.
Walters said good behavior will likely earn Hilton a June 25 release, after serving 23 days of her 45-day sentence. Paris Hilton said she will now accept the remainder of her sentence: "I've dropped my appeal. I don't want to cause any more problems."