Paris -- "I Used to Act Dumb"

Paris Hilton got on the horn with Barbara Walters yesterday, and told her that she felt "caged" in jail, but said that she's tired of playing "dumb" and that "God has given me this new chance."

"Good Morning America" reports that Babwa was on the phone with Paris' mom Kathy when Paris called in on the other line -- and said she wanted to talk to Walters directly. So Paris called her collect in New York, and they had a brief chat. Among the highlights: "I was not eating or sleeping. I was severely depressed and felt as if I was in a cage. ... It was a horrible experience." More details of the conversation will be unveiled on "The View" later.

And in case you missed it over the weekend ... TMZ told you that Paris won't appeal her sentence, that she was "teetering on the brink" and "depressed" on Saturday while in jail, and, yesterday, that all she's eating is cereal and bread, but that she's feeling better on her meds. Check back for more Paris all day long.

Meanwhile, Paris Hilton's sister Nicky and her ex-boyfriend Stavros Niarchos paid a visit to the world's most famous inmate yesterday, but some non-VIP visitors are bellyaching that that they got unfairly express treatment.

Nicky and Stav saw Paris for about half an hour, reports the New York Post, but only had to wait about 15 minutes -- whereas other, less exalted visitors had to wait two to four hours. "This isn't right," said one woman, who had waited for four hours. "We take off our Saturdays and Sunday to come here and do this."

In other Paris news, Usmagazine.com reports that Paris had an at-home spray tan session from Portofino Sun Spa during the day she was home to get back some color after her first three days inside. "She was in a great mood and so happy to be home," says an Us source.

Ryan Seacrest says that "American Idol" took a ratings hit this season because there's just too much Simon Cowell. When asked about the ratings drop, reports the Globe and Mail (via MSNBC), Seacrest said, "Well, the knee-jerk reaction would be Simon. Clearly, there's an oversaturation of his character." (Somehow, we don't think he's being exactly serious.) Ryan also pointed out that ratings are still sky-high and that any suggestion that there's going to be a judge change is total bunk. "That's clearly rumor, I'm positive you can't recreate the chemistry that we have with the group on 'American Idol.'"