Perez Hilton’s website has offered an update on the celebrity gossip blogger’s progress following his apparent August suicide attempt, revealing that he has been allowed to see his children and mother.
“They were first able to spend time together through a few video calls, and since then, Hilton has also been able to see his children and his mom a few times for short, supervised visits at the facility,” according to the site. “Seeing his children in person has meant an enormous amount to Perez. There have definitely been a lot of emotions for everyone, but being able to spend that time together has been incredibly meaningful and healing.”
Hilton, born Mario Lavandeira Jr., experienced a mental health crisis on the night of Aug. 4 in his Miami home and livestreamed himself engaging in self-harm with a box cutter and knife as followers pleaded with him to stop and attempted to contact him.
Hilton spent weeks in the hospital receiving treatment for his physical injuries before being transferred to a residential treatment program, where he could “focus fully on his mental health and recovery,” according to a family statement from earlier this month.
In August, Hilton was granted supervised visits with his children.
However, Hilton’s brother-in-law said on a podcast on Aug. 24 that Hilton had not had any contact with his kids, as “they were not allowed in that section of the facility.”
Tuesday’s update also publicized a GoFundMe fundraiser created for Hilton’s mother, Teresita Lavandeira, and Hilton’s three school-age children. The fundraiser, organized by theater producer Tom D’Angora, who has described himself as a longtime friend of Hilton’s, promised that “none of the money will be used for Perez personally.”
As of Tuesday afternoon, the fundraiser had raised about $14,000 out of its $25,000 goal. D’Angora was not immediately available for comment.
“Like any grandmother who suddenly finds herself responsible for raising three growing children, she’s also taken on significant and unexpected expenses,” the fundraiser website says. “Perez’s family and friends are helping however we can. We also wanted to give the many people who have asked how they can help a way to do so.”
The site’s Tuesday update said there was still no available timeline for when Perez would exit residential treatment.
“Communication with Perez is still limited, and we’re not able to talk to him daily,” the statement read.
But it assured that he was making progress.
“He’s continuing to work with his care team on understanding what led to his mental health crisis, recognizing warning signs, learning better ways to cope, and working through everything that brought him to this point,” according to the site.
Hilton has been a controversial media figure since the mid-2000s, when he launched a celebrity gossip blog called PageSixSixSix. After the New York Post sued him, he rebranded it to Perez Hilton, a play on socialite Paris Hilton’s name.
During its heyday, Hilton’s successful website — on which he would publish mocking posts about Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan and spread conspiracy theories about celebrity deaths — generated about 8 million page views a day, The Times’ columnist Robin Abcarian wrote recently. In 2010, he declined a $20-million offer for his website, according to reporting by the now-defunct outlet Gawker.
Immigrant detainee dies at San Diego ICE detention center
WASHINGTON — An immigrant detainee died Saturday morning at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego, marking the 61st such death under the Trump administration.
In an emailed statement, an unnamed spokesperson with CoreCivic, the Tennessee-based private prison company that operates the facility, confirmed the death. Per the spokesperson, a staff member at the Otay Mesa facility called in a medical emergency around 11:36 a.m. Saturday after finding an unresponsive person in their assigned living area.
Medical staff arrived quickly, began lifesaving measures and called for emergency medical services, the spokesperson said. EMS arrived and continued those efforts, but the person was pronounced dead at the facility.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of anyone in our care,” the spokesperson wrote, adding that Immigration and Customs Enforcement was immediately notified.
ICE and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment. CoreCivic did not provide information about the person’s identity.
The death was first reported by Daylight San Diego.
San Diego County Supervisor Paloma Aguirre, in a statement Tuesday, wrote that ICE and CoreCivic must quickly reach the person’s family, cooperate with a thorough investigation and share what they find with the public. Aguirre said she asked the county public health officer to determine what kind of follow-up is possible under a state law that allows local public health authorities to inspect ICE facilities.
“Somewhere, a family is waiting for a phone call, and my heart is with them,” she wrote.
This is the seventh person to die while in ICE custody in California under this administration, and the first to die at the Otay Mesa facility since 2023.
Deaths have increased as the Trump administration detained record numbers of people, with the population at one point ballooning past 70,000 nationwide.
The most recent death reported by ICE was that of Luis Sandoval, 48, a Salvadoran immigrant who died of apparent suicide Friday. Staff at the Folkston D. Ray ICE Processing Center in Georgia found Sandoval with a ligature around his neck, according to an ICE news release.
ICE policy is to notify the public and Congress within two business days of a detainee’s death. More extensive reports about each death, which were typically three pages, must be released within 90 days, though those have been reduced to a few paragraphs.
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DHS buys three detention centers in California for $950 million
WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security has purchased three immigrant detention facilities in Adelanto for $950 million, according to the private prison corporation that sold them.
The sale by the GEO Group, a Florida-based government contractor, follows an initial $1.5-billion sale over the summer of two other California detention facilities by GEO’s competitor, CoreCivic of Tennessee.
The facilities owned by GEO Group include the 1,280-bed Adelanto West ICE Processing Center, the 660-bed Adelanto East ICE Processing Center and 704-bed Desert View Annex.
In total, the federal government has now spent nearly $3.2 billion on detention facility purchases, the majority of them in California. CoreCivic sold off two other facilities, in Minnesota and Kansas, in August.
The sales were made possible by an infusion last year of $45 billion for immigration detention from President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
In its announcement, GEO Group sad it will continue managing daily operations at the facilities under the company’s existing contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is effective through Dec. 19, 2034.
The company said it is engaged in an “active process” with Homeland Security for the potential sale of multiple other facilities. Those sales hinge on GEO Group’s ability to continue managing those facilities under long-term contracts, the company wrote.
“We are pleased with the completion of these important asset sales to the U.S. federal government, and we look forward to continuing to provide high-quality secure support services under our existing long-term contracts with ICE,” George C. Zoley, the company’s CEO, wrote in a news release.
“We are proud of our 40-year public-private partnership with ICE, and we stand ready to continue to assist the federal government in meeting its immigration enforcement priorities,” Zoley added.
During a shareholder call in August, Zoley said ICE was contemplating buying more than 10 facilities, and that number “could continue to grow.”
“We believe we have two types of assets: the buildings and the businesses of providing support services,” he said on the call. “We are pursuing a potential sale of the buildings, but we want to retain the business. We consider ourselves primarily a support services operator, and will place particular importance on our ability to continue our support services at any facility sold to ICE.”
GEO Group said it anticipates receiving $705 million in proceeds from the sales, after taxes and transaction fees. The company wrote that net proceeds will reduce the company’s debt and facilitate the repurchase of company shares.
This story will be updated.
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Phil Mickelson had stint in facility for family trauma and addiction
Golfer Phil Mickelson checked himself into a facility earlier this year “seeking treatment for family trauma and addiction,” a representative for the six-time major championship winner said in a statement to news outlets on Wednesday.
Mickelson, 56, reportedly is no longer at the facility. No information about the specifics of his stay or details about his reasons for entering the program have been made available.
In February, Mickelson announced that he would miss the first two LIV Golf events of the year because he and his wife, Amy Mickelson, “need to be present for a family health matter.”
The only tournament the golfer known as Lefty has competed in this year was LIV Golf South Africa, where he finished at 7-under par and tied for 48th place, in March.
The following month, Mickelson announced he was withdrawing from the Masters and that he would “be out for an extended period of time as my family continues to navigate a personal health matter.”
In June, Golf Digest reported that a female member of the staff at the Farms Golf Club in Rancho Santa Fe had accused Mickelson of making “nonconsensual and inappropriate physical contact” with her months earlier.
Mickelson hired defamation attorney Tom Clare, who said video evidence contradicted the allegations.
In response to the Golf Digest report, a Mickelson spokesperson said in a statement: “Any misunderstanding has been cleared up. Phil continues to attend to a family health matter and is uncertain when he will be able to return to professional golf.”
A longtime gambling enthusiast, Mickelson admitted in a 2023 Instagram post that at some point he had “crossed the line of moderation and into addiction” but was “back on track to being the person I want to be.”
“After many years of receiving professional help, not gambling, and being in recovery from my addictions, I’m now able to sit still, be present in the moment and live each day with an inner calm and peace,” Mickelson wrote. “I still have a lot of cleaning up to do with those I love the most but I’m doing it slowly and as best I can.”
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Perez Hilton reunites with children for ‘short, supervised visits’
Perez Hilton’s website has offered an update on the celebrity gossip blogger’s progress following his apparent August suicide attempt, revealing that he has been allowed to see his children and mother.
“They were first able to spend time together through a few video calls, and since then, Hilton has also been able to see his children and his mom a few times for short, supervised visits at the facility,” according to the site. “Seeing his children in person has meant an enormous amount to Perez. There have definitely been a lot of emotions for everyone, but being able to spend that time together has been incredibly meaningful and healing.”
Hilton, born Mario Lavandeira Jr., experienced a mental health crisis on the night of Aug. 4 in his Miami home and livestreamed himself engaging in self-harm with a box cutter and knife as followers pleaded with him to stop and attempted to contact him.
Hilton spent weeks in the hospital receiving treatment for his physical injuries before being transferred to a residential treatment program, where he could “focus fully on his mental health and recovery,” according to a family statement from earlier this month.
In August, Hilton was granted supervised visits with his children.
However, Hilton’s brother-in-law said on a podcast on Aug. 24 that Hilton had not had any contact with his kids, as “they were not allowed in that section of the facility.”
Tuesday’s update also publicized a GoFundMe fundraiser created for Hilton’s mother, Teresita Lavandeira, and Hilton’s three school-age children. The fundraiser, organized by theater producer Tom D’Angora, who has described himself as a longtime friend of Hilton’s, promised that “none of the money will be used for Perez personally.”
As of Tuesday afternoon, the fundraiser had raised about $14,000 out of its $25,000 goal. D’Angora was not immediately available for comment.
“Like any grandmother who suddenly finds herself responsible for raising three growing children, she’s also taken on significant and unexpected expenses,” the fundraiser website says. “Perez’s family and friends are helping however we can. We also wanted to give the many people who have asked how they can help a way to do so.”
The site’s Tuesday update said there was still no available timeline for when Perez would exit residential treatment.
“Communication with Perez is still limited, and we’re not able to talk to him daily,” the statement read.
But it assured that he was making progress.
“He’s continuing to work with his care team on understanding what led to his mental health crisis, recognizing warning signs, learning better ways to cope, and working through everything that brought him to this point,” according to the site.
Hilton has been a controversial media figure since the mid-2000s, when he launched a celebrity gossip blog called PageSixSixSix. After the New York Post sued him, he rebranded it to Perez Hilton, a play on socialite Paris Hilton’s name.
During its heyday, Hilton’s successful website — on which he would publish mocking posts about Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan and spread conspiracy theories about celebrity deaths — generated about 8 million page views a day, The Times’ columnist Robin Abcarian wrote recently. In 2010, he declined a $20-million offer for his website, according to reporting by the now-defunct outlet Gawker.
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