Perez Hilton’s sister, Barbara Lavandeira, has described the terrifying moments surrounding the celebrity blogger’s apparent self-harm livestream last week, offering a disturbing eyewitness account of what unfolded inside his Miami home.
Hilton, 48, was transported to a Miami hospital last Tuesday after police received emergency calls reporting a possible suicide attempt.
Video from the livestream, which The Daily Mail has opted not to publish, appeared to show Hilton with blood on his body following what seemed to be an incident involving a knife.
It later emerged that his three children — Mario, 13, Mia, 11, and Mayte, eight — along with his niece and Barbara, had been at the residence in the period leading up to the emergency.
Now Barbara, 42, has recalled becoming frightened for Hilton’s well-being, bursting into his bathroom and being confronted with the sight of him ‘standing in front of the shower, naked, cut up, covered in blood, with a box cutter in his hand,’ via Page Six.
In her harrowing account, Barbara said she “didn’t recognize my brother,” adding that his eyes “didn’t look the same” and that his smile left her feeling as though she “was staring at someone else.”
As the situation escalated, she rushed the children to the car, desperate to protect them from the “nightmare” taking place inside the home.
Perez Hilton’s sister Barbara Lavandeira has shared a chilling eyewitness account of his apparent self-harm livestream last week; he is pictured in hospital earlier this year
Following the incident, Hilton’s mother filed a request seeking temporary custody of his children, Mario, 13, Mia, 11, and Mayte, eight
Barbara is pictured at her baby shower in 2020 in a Facebook photo posted by another attendee
Barbara appears to have come upon her brother, whose real name is Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr, after he had already left the TikTok livestream.
‘That afternoon, Mario was in his bedroom with the door closed and locked, which wasn’t like him. His door was almost always open,’ she recalled.
‘When I knocked, he said he was fine, but I could barely hear him. After I knocked a few more times and asked him to open the door, he stopped responding.’
Barbara then ‘tried calling his cellphone in case he couldn’t hear me, but he wouldn’t answer. Something just felt wrong,’ she said.
‘I unlocked his bedroom door and realized he was inside the bathroom. I knocked several more times and told him I was going to come in if he didn’t open the door. He still didn’t answer, so I unlocked it.’
Upon entering the room, her ‘nightmare became a reality’ as she found herself facing her bloodied brother grasping a box cutter by the shower.
‘What I can say with certainty is that I didn’t recognize my brother when I looked at him,’ said Barbara. ‘I saw it in his eyes. They didn’t look the same. Then, a split second later, he smiled at me. It felt like I was staring at someone else.’
Determined to keep the children away from the crisis, she ‘left the room, grabbed the car keys and yelled for the kids to run to the car. Thankfully, our mom wasn’t home at the time, and I was able to get everyone out quickly.’
After dialing 911 in order to call the police to her brother’s house, Barbara ‘messaged my best friend, who lives nearby, while I was on with dispatch, and asked her to please come get the kids and take them away from the scene.’
Hilton’s sister, who was visiting him from California, made her way back inside and attempted to staunch his bleeding with towels while awaiting the ambulance.
‘He had already lost a significant amount of blood, yet he was somehow still able to speak, although his voice was very faint,’ she said. ‘The ambulance took him to the hospital, and I stayed behind to speak with the crisis team that arrived.’
That date, August 4, ‘will forever be one of the darkest days my family and I have ever experienced,’ Barbara said.
On August 7, three days after he was hospitalized, Hilton’s mother, Teresita Lavandeira submitted a petition in a Miami family court to temporarily assume custody of his children, according to public records viewed by The Daily Mail.
Meanwhile, Barbara grappled with ‘whether I should say anything personally,’ noting that her brother ‘has always been an open book,’ while she was ‘the opposite.’
She described herself as ‘a very private person,’ pointing out that ‘although I’ve worked with him for many years, I’ve always stayed behind the scenes.’
Ultimately, she came to the conclusion that as the ‘only person who witnessed what happened from the beginning to the end,’ she wanted to break her silence, not only for the benefit of ‘everyone who cares about him and has been sending their best wishes’ but also in order to dispel the ‘rumors’ circulating about that night.
Barbara was particularly wounded by those who regarded Hilton’s downward spiral as a form of cosmic retribution for the viciousness of his early gossip blog.
‘The comments calling this “karma” have been especially painful. I wouldn’t wish what my mother, Mario’s children, or our entire family is experiencing on anyone,’ said Barbara, adding that her brother had expressed remorse for his earlier behavior.
‘Mario has publicly acknowledged the harm he caused earlier in his career. In 2010, he went on network television and admitted that the outings, doodles, and other things he did were wrong, and he has apologized repeatedly,’ she said.
Teresita with Hilton and his two older children attending the 2018 premiere of Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween in Los Angeles
Without ‘asking anyone to forget or excuse any of that,’ she pleaded with the public to ‘recognize that he has changed tremendously’ in the intervening years.
‘I don’t believe someone should be reduced forever to the worst things they did in their past, especially when they’ve admitted the harm and genuinely tried to grow,’ said Barbara, while noting that his ‘children and our mother are innocent. They shouldn’t be punished or tormented because of how people feel about him.’
Hilton’s team revealed over the weekend that he had sustained ‘significant blood loss’ as well as unspecified ‘additional injuries.’
According to the update, the one-time celebrity gossip blogger would ‘require surgery in the coming days’ to treat his injuries.
The statement also confirmed that Hilton ‘remains hospitalized under Florida’s Baker Act,’ a law that allows for involuntary hospitalizations.
Due to the conditions of his facility and the Baker Act, they emphasized that the blogger’s ‘communication has been extremely limited and confined to immediate family, medical providers, and others directly involved in his care.’
The Baker Act – officially the Florida Mental Health Act – allows medical and mental health professionals, as well as judges and law enforcement officers, to involuntarily commit individuals for up to 72 hours if they are believed to be at risk of harming themselves or others.
Hilton’s team emphasized that his ‘condition remains serious but stable,’ explaining that his ‘treatment and recovery’ would be a ‘long process.’
Hilton was hospitalized in March and shared pictures as he recovered from sepsis on the ward
They also shared that he had been able to spend time with his mother and sister on Friday.
Hilton’s team confirmed that his ‘children remain safe and are being cared for by immediate family.’
Surveillance footage from a neighbor’s house captured the moment when law enforcement arrived at Hilton’s residence in Miami last Tuesday after fans reached out to 911 over concerns for his welfare.
Police cars could be seen pulling up to the home not long after 7pm on Tuesday evening.
Law enforcement was seen trying to coax Hilton out of his home in the video.
A deputy was heard calling out: ‘Mario, it’s the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, please step out of the house.’
Clips taken from the footage appeared to show the media personality covered in blood while brandishing a knife.
The livestream video has since been taken down by TikTok, and his account has also been suspended.
Hilton’s team has confirmed he ‘remains hospitalized under Florida’s Baker Act,’ a law that allows for involuntary hospitalizations
The livestream video has since been taken down by TikTok and his account has also been suspended
His family requested ‘privacy and space they need during this unimaginably difficult time’
The statement from Perez’s family continued: ‘Our family cannot express enough our continued gratitude for the overwhelming outpouring of love, support, and prayers we have received during this incredibly difficult time.
‘The events of the past several days have been nearly unbearable for our family.’
‘Our highest priority right now is helping the children begin to heal from what they experienced. An important part of that process is allowing them to safely return home and begin rebuilding a sense of security and normalcy.’
Hilton’s family also requested ‘privacy and space they need during this unimaginably difficult time’.
They added: ‘We will continue to provide updates on Perez’s condition through PerezHilton.com when we have additional information we are able to share. Again, thank you for your compassion, understanding, and continued prayers.’
Hilton had been hospitalized earlier this year in March and had shared pictures of himself on the ward while recovering from sepsis.
He had developed an ulcer after taking flu medication on an empty stomach, which then led to a 21-day hospitalization.
Hilton developed an ulcer earlier this year after taking flu medication on an empty stomach, which then led to a 21-day hospitalization. Above, last year
And just weeks later, the blogger faced another health crisis after experiencing ‘soreness and pain in one of my legs.’
Following an ultrasound, it was revealed that Hilton had a deep vein thrombosis.
‘I am so thankful to God that we caught this early because if that blood clot had gone to my lungs or my heart, it could have been real bad,’ he said on Instagram at the time.
He soon gave another update on social media to share that he was able to ‘finally walk again’ as he used the help of a walker.
Months before the distressing TikTok livestream, Hilton reflected on his health scares.
During an appearance on Fox News Media’s Hang Out with Sean Hannity podcast, which had been recorded on July 14, he said: ‘I was in the hospital for 21 days, so I thought I was gonna die.
‘Especially because the first few days they couldn’t find where the perforation was and then I had all of these other issues. My body just started breaking down.’
He further explained: ‘I had fluid in my lungs. I went AFib. My heart issues. Everything that could go wrong, went wrong.
‘I’m 48 and I’ve never taken any kind of flu medication with food. And some medication, you don’t need to take with food. The flu medication you’re supposed to take with food.’
Hilton stated that he took both ‘Aleve and Tylenol’ on an empty stomach.
‘I know, I did that for a week, and I developed an ulcer and a perforation and here we are.’
He soon gave another update on social media to share that he was able to ‘finally walk again’ as he used the help of a walker
Hilton notably launched his celebrity gossip blog back in 2004, which was originally called PageSixSixSix.com. Shortly after, he changed the name to PerezHilton.com.
He has also befriended a number of Hollywood celebrities.
Back in 2021, Hilton admitted that he ‘regrets’ the way he covered Britney Spears’s breakdown in 2007.
He had garnered criticism for ‘bullying’ the Baby One More Time hitmaker after he previously called her an ‘unfit mother.’
He also released a shirt design on his website in 2008, which questioned why the pop star didn’t die instead of Heath Ledger.
The shirt had an image of the actor from his role in Brokeback Mountain as well as the words: ‘Why couldn’t it be Britney?’
‘I regret a lot or most of what I said about Britney as I’m sure Piers [Morgan] would if he were here about things he’s said in the past,’ Hilton said during an interview on the TV show Good Morning Britain.
The media personality added that he has grown over the years and expressed: ‘Thankfully, hopefully, many of us get older and wiser.’
If you or someone you know needs help in the US, please call or text the confidential 24/7 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988. If you are in the UK, call Samaritans at 116 123 for free. If you are in Australia, call Lifeline 13 11 14 or Kids Helpline at 1800 55 1800.
