Perez Hilton’s Condition Is ‘Serious But Stable’ After Self-Harm Livestream Incident

This article contains discussions of self-harm.

Perez Hilton’s family has given an update on the celebrity blogger following his recent hospitalisation.

Last week, police officers were called to Perez’s home in Miami in the wake of a TikTok livestream in which he appeared to be self-harming.

The former Celebrity Big Brother housemate – whose legal name is Mario Lavandeira – was then taken to a nearby hospital for medical treatment where he has remained since.

In a statement posted on his blog over the weekend, his loved ones said that his condition remains “serious but stable”, noting that he has a long recovery ahead as a result of the injuries he sustained during what they previously described as a “severe mental health crisis” that resulted in him “harming himself”.

“Perez’s condition remains serious but stable,” they wrote. “He experienced significant blood loss and sustained additional injuries that will require surgery in the coming days.

“His treatment and recovery will be a long process. We are grateful that Perez was able to spend time with his mother and sister yesterday.

“As our family remains focused on Perez’s treatment and recovery, we also need the space and privacy to care for everyone affected by this situation.”

The family noted that Perez’s “communication has been extremely limited and confined to immediate family, medical providers, and others directly involved in his care” insisting he “has not communicated with the media or issued any public statements”.

At the end of their statement, they reiterated that there is “absolutely no reason for members of the media or the public to remain outside the family’s home” requesting “members of the media to leave the home and surrounding area, stop following family members, and cease photographing Perez’s children”.

It was also pointed out that Perez’s own blog has “maintained a ‘no kids policy’” for the last decade, requesting privacy for his own three children, who are aged 13, 12 and eight.

Before that, the family’s most recent statement had said that their “highest priority right now is helping the children begin to heal from what they experienced” following what was referred to as the “livestream incident”.

They noted that his children, niece and sister had been at his home before the livestream got underway, but “immediately fled to protect the children from witnessing any further trauma” when it “became clear that Perez was experiencing a severe mental health crisis and harming himself”.

Perez first rose to notoriety in the mid-2000s thanks to his celebrity news blog, where he frequently generated controversy due to his blunt, and often disparaging, commentary on the public figures he covered.

In the 2010s, he insisted that he’d be changing the tone of his reporting, telling Ellen Degeneres on her daytime show that he wanted to “be part of the solution and not part of the problem”, after being called out by numerous celebrities for “bullying”.

He later claimed to the New York Times: “What’s important for me is not being liked, but it is that people think I am no longer toxic to the world.”

Since the beginning of this year, Perez has experienced a number of health struggles, having been hospitalised with severe sepsis back in March.

In the months that followed, he shared that he’d been hospitalised for a second time due to deep vein thrombosis.

• Mind, open Monday to Friday, 9am-6pm on 0300 123 3393.
• Samaritans offers a listening service which is open 24 hours a day, on 116 123 (UK and ROI – this number is FREE to call and will not appear on your phone bill).
• CALM (the Campaign Against Living Miserably) offer a helpline open 5pm-midnight, 365 days a year, on 0800 58 58 58, and a webchat service.
• The Mix is a free support service for people under 25. Call 0808 808 4994 or email help@themix.org.uk
• Rethink Mental Illness offers practical help through its advice line which can be reached on 0808 801 0525 (Monday to Friday 10am-4pm). More info can be found on rethink.org.