{"id":45678,"date":"2026-08-15T02:17:48","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T21:17:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=45678"},"modified":"2026-08-15T02:17:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T21:17:48","slug":"i-had-a-front-row-seat-to-perez-hiltons-rise-and-the-private-struggle-no-one-saw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=45678","title":{"rendered":"I had a front-row seat to Perez Hilton&#8217;s rise, and the private struggle no one saw"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F3%2F2026%2F08%2FPH.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>I have known Perez Hilton since 2004, before Perez became a global brand, a cultural lightning rod, or the face people attached to an entire era of internet gossip. We are three months apart in age and I am lucky enough to call him one of my close friends.<\/p>\n<p>In the days since Perez <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/08\/13\/celebrity-news\/perez-hilton-checked-himself-into-hospital-for-severe-depression-before-suicide-attempt\/\">attempted to take his own life<\/a>, I have watched an extraordinary debate unfold online. Alongside the messages of concern and compassion, there have been <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2025\/10\/10\/celebrity-news\/tallulah-willis-claps-back-at-bullies-and-celebrates-chin-from-dad-bruce-willis\/\">comments calling what happened to him \u201ckarma\u201d<\/a> or punishment for the hurt he caused during the years when PerezHilton.com was at the center of celebrity culture.<\/p>\n<p>I understand the anger behind some of those reactions. I also know something about the man at the center of them.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Perez Hilton\u2019s former publicist is speaking out about the blogger\u2019s private struggle. (Hilton is pictured above with his hands over his chest.) <span class=\"credit\">Perez Hilton\/ Youtube<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>Ben Russo pictured with Hilton. <span class=\"credit\">WireImage<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Outside of our friendship, I was also Perez\u2019s publicist for 10 years. During the height of his fame, we spoke almost every day. I had a front-row seat to his rise, his mistakes and, more importantly, his guilt as he tried to grapple with the consequences of the way he had covered people in the past. I watched becoming a father change him. And I watched the real person, Mario Lavandeira, emerge from behind the character the world knew as Perez Hilton.<\/p>\n<p>That is why I feel compelled to speak now. The <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/08\/05\/celebrity-news\/inside-perez-hiltons-rollercoaster-career-life-and-turbulent-2026-before-horrific-livestream-suicide-attempt\/\">person being judged today<\/a> is not simply the person people remember from a website two decades ago. None of us can rewrite our past, but I believe we have to allow people the possibility of becoming something more than the things they may have done.<\/p>\n<p>To really understand Perez Hilton, you also have to remember what celebrity media looked like at the time. Perez did not create that culture by himself; he just became its most visible face.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Hilton in 2007 at a New Year\u2019s Eve party in New York City. <span class=\"credit\">Patrick McMullan via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Hilton poses with his three children in front of advertisements. <span class=\"credit\">perezhiltonmiami\/ instagram<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>We were all addicted to celebrity gossip, and still are today. Millions visited PerezHilton.com, refreshed the headlines, repeated the stories and came back for more. Celebrities wanted his attention. Publicists and agents sought coverage for their clients. Advertisers followed the audience. Mario played a powerful role in that machine, but he never operated alone.<\/p>\n<p>Perez has acknowledged the harm he caused. In 2010, he changed course, risked the platform he had built, and publicly committed himself to doing better.<\/p>\n<p>I saw that change happen privately. It changed the conversations we had and the decisions he made.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Hilton smiles alongside Katy Perry in 2017 in Los Angeles, California. <span class=\"credit\">Christopher Polk<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Hilton playfully kisses Lady Gaga in 2009 in Irvine, California. <span class=\"credit\">FilmMagic<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"single__inline-module inline-module inline-module--newsletter aligncenter inline-module--nypostbusinessunit aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-newsletter\" data-source-unit=\"Inline Newsletter Module Page Six Daily\">\n<div class=\"inline-module__inner\">\n<div class=\"inline-module__title-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"inline-module__unsubmitted-title-wrapper\">\n<h3 class=\"inline-module__title headline headline--combo-sm-md\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWant more celebrity and pop culture news?\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h3>\n<p class=\"inline-module__cta\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStart your day with Page Six Daily.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><h3 class=\"inline-module__title headline headline--combo-sm-md\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\t\t\t\t\t<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Accountability matters. And Perez took it. But if accountability offers no possibility of redemption, it is not accountability. It is permanent punishment.<\/p>\n<p>And that is where I struggle with <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/08\/10\/celebrity-news\/jared-padalecki-apologizes-for-post-supporting-perez-hilton-after-backlash\/\">some of what I have read <\/a>over the past week.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m not writing this to tell anyone they have to forgive him. I\u2019m writing because there is a line between accountability and believing another human being deserves to suffer so profoundly that they no longer deserve to live.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Hilton poses in front of a \u201cStar Wars\u201d parody advertisement in 2025. <span class=\"credit\">perezlovesmiami\/Instagram<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Hilton smiles at the camera with his hands clasped together. <span class=\"credit\">Perez Hilton\/YouTube<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Whatever you might think of Perez Hilton, what happened last week was not karma. It <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/08\/05\/celebrity-news\/inside-perez-hiltons-traumatic-year-including-the-health-crisis-that-almost-killed-him-before-self-harm-incident\/\">was a mental health crisis<\/a>. And no suicide attempt should ever be celebrated as justice.<\/p>\n<p>Over the past week, as my friend was at his most vulnerable and his family <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/08\/14\/celebrity-news\/read-perez-hiltons-sister-barbara-lavandeiras-full-interview-after-bloggers-suicide-attempt\/\">was trying to protect him<\/a> and his children, his suffering was playing out in front of millions of people. <\/p>\n<p>His video <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/08\/05\/celebrity-news\/perez-hilton-911-dispatch-audio-reveals-horrific-details-of-suicide-attempt\/\">showing self-harm<\/a> remained on TikTok for more than fifteen minutes. Strangers watched, shared, commented and passed judgment on one of the darkest moments of his life.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Hilton takes a mirror selfie in 2026 with one finger raised.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Hilton smiles alongside his three children at a restaurant in 2025. <span class=\"credit\">perezlovesmiami\/Instagram<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Compassion doesn\u2019t require us to forget someone\u2019s past. It simply requires us to remember there is still a human being behind it.<\/p>\n<p>I witnessed Perez\u2019s rise, his mistakes, his decision to change, and the sixteen years he has spent living under a weight of public judgment that, at times, has made him feel as if he was not worthy of being alive.<\/p>\n<p>That is what saddens me most: not just what was said about him, but what it may have made him believe about himself.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I have known Perez Hilton since 2004, before Perez became a global brand, a cultural lightning rod, or the face people attached to an entire era of internet gossip. We are three months apart in age and I am lucky enough to call him one of my close friends. In the days since Perez attempted&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45679,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/08\/PH.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/45679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}