"It’s very obvious that whoever did this is doing it to hurt her," Hilton’s spokeswoman, Siri Garber, told The Associated Press on Thursday. "The Hilton family lawyers are getting involved as of now." The recording was made three years ago while Solomon and Hilton, then 19, were dating, Garber said. "It was for themselves," Garber added. "Not everybody indulges in that, but couples do it sometimes and it’s just for themselves, for fun. She never intended for it to be seen by anybody other than the two of them."

Hilton is one of the stars of Fox’s new reality series "The Simple Life," set to debut Dec. 2, in which the pampered party girl leaves the urban social scene to live in a rural, working-class environment. The video has reportedly been distributed to some gossip columnists by an unidentified person, and a Seattle-based porn site operator who possesses the tape told Us Weekly magazine he plans to post it on the Internet. Hilton’s lawyers are threatening legal action against anyone who distributes the tape or fails to destroy their copy of it. They are also trying to determine whether Solomon, 33, was involved in releasing the tape. A number for Solomon’s business — a clothing and DVD company that distributes amateur party videos of scantily clad women — had been disconnected and he could not be reached for comment. Solomon has reportedly split with Doherty but the status of their relationship was unclear. Doherty’s representatives did not immediately return a call.