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.
