This article mentions self-harm and suicide, reader discretion advised.
On Tuesday, Aug. 4, celebrity gossip blogger Perez Hilton sparked widespread concern when he appeared to self-harm while completely nude during an incredibly distressing TikTok livestream, that ran for a reported 30 minutes.
The 48-year-old father-of-three also made a series of worrying comments during the stream as horrified viewers desperately tried to get authorities to his home in Florida to help him.
Deputies with the Miami-Dade County Sheriff’s Office (MDSO) were dispatched to Perez’s home after receiving numerous calls from people who had watched the stream, and the star was taken to a nearby hospital for medical attention. The Crisis Response Unit and licensed mental health professionals are also reported to have been on the scene.
While the stream was going on, many expressed their concern for Perez’s three children, ages 13, 11, and 8, whom he raises as a single father, but an MDSO spokesperson has since confirmed that Perez was alone in the house when officers arrived. Perez's mom is also thought to live with the family.
“In many incidents involving a person experiencing a mental health crisis or actively harming themselves, deputies prioritize de-escalation by creating time, distance, and opportunities for communication,” the spokesperson said in a statement, per People. “Unless there is an immediate threat to others, slowing the situation and utilizing crisis intervention techniques can reduce the likelihood of a suicide-by-cop encounter and minimize the risk of injury to the individual, deputies, and the public.”
If you didn’t know, “suicide by cop” is a term for when people behave in a way that will provoke police into killing them in an attempt to end their lives; unverified social media reports claim that Perez had alluded to this in his livestream.
In the hours since the incident, disturbing graphic videos that show Perez covered in blood have been shared on social media, and his managers, Dante Rusciolelli and Rebekah Kochan, said in a statement to Variety and other outlets: “We are aware of the concerning content circulating online involving our client, Perez Hilton. At this time, we have not been able to make direct contact with him, despite our ongoing efforts to reach him. Our primary concern is Perez’s health and well being, as well as the well being of his family. Until we have confirmed information, we will not speculate or comment further. We appreciate everyone’s concern and ask that his privacy be respected during this time.”
The livestream follows an incredibly difficult few months for the star, which all started when he came down with the flu back in February. On Feb. 26, Perez — real name Mario Lavandeira — revealed that he had been seriously struggling in a YouTube livestream, where he told viewers: “I am exceptionally sick still. I talked about it earlier, I finally said what it is. It's the worst flu of my life. This is worse than when I had COVID.” He added that he’d had “nonstop fevers” for days, and “regressed” every time he felt as though he was getting better.
Less than a month later, Perez was hospitalized with severe sepsis in Las Vegas, which resulted in him having a thrombectomy to remove a blood clot and three weeks of being bedridden in the hospital. On March 25, Perez shared an update about his health, and stated: “God presented himself to me” as he reflected on the experience.
“My stupidity landed me in the hospital for 21 days, and it was the worst and best thing that’s ever happened to me,” Perez said in a lengthy video, where he explained that he developed an ulcer in his stomach after taking his flu medication without food. The ulcer turned into a perforation, and that is what led to the sepsis. Perez said: “The day before I was hospitalized, I was in so much stomach pain. I was like: ‘This is weird, but it’ll go away.’ The next morning, I couldn’t walk. I had to be taken by ambulance to the hospital.”
“The sepsis just kept working, and my body kept falling apart,” Perez said of his time in the hospital. “Then one night, rapid response came because my heart got out of control. They had to put me on heart medications. And then I developed another infection in the hospital.”
“It was just such a slow process. I mean, two weeks of just sickness and then another week of getting better before I was released,” he went on. “And that last week was hell because I had already been in the hospital two weeks by then. I was like: ‘I just wanna go home. I just want to be with my babies.'”
In the video, Perez said that it was once he came home that he realized that “one of the most special things about this experience is that God presented himself to me.” He added: “It was not a feeling. God presented himself to me. I grew up Catholic, but I was never a believer until now. God presented himself to me and then did something. Something that I could only call miraculous.”
“And I was very lucid. It was real and this has been life-changing. I’m so grateful,” Perez added through tears. “I’m excited to start taking the kids to church every week. And to just know that God is real… I don’t have to hope to believe. I know now.”
In May, Perez candidly shared the financial impact that his hospital stay had had on him in an Instagram video promoting his new merch, telling viewers: “You don’t want to know how much I had to pay in hospital bills, with insurance! That’s why your boy is now in hustle mode. I had all that I had to take care off and I wasn’t able to work for over a month.”
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