A TikTok live video of celebrity blogger Perez Hilton allegedly harming himself in his Miami home sparked a flurry of calls to local police, who decided to disengage with Hilton while they monitor the situation.
The Miami-Dade County Sheriff’s Office told Newsweek that the office received “multiple calls” about an individual livestreaming acts of self-harm. Deputies were dispatched to Hilton’s house and spoke with family members who were on scene. Deputies confirmed Hilton was alone inside and decided to “tactically disengage” while they continue to monitor the situation.
“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. 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,” the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office told Newsweek.
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Newsweek has reached out to representatives for Hilton via email but did not receive a response in time for publication.
The video, which Newsweek will not share, showed Hilton cutting himself and covered in what appeared to be blood. The video has been taken down and TikTok has suspended Hilton’s account.
It’s unclear who was home at the time the video was filmed but Hilton has three children. His oldest child, a son, was born in 2013 and his daughters were born in 2015 and 2017.
Hilton was hospitalized in March for an ulcer he got after taking flu medication without food and developed severe sepsis that left him hospitalized for weeks. Then he was hospitalized again for deep vein thrombosis that he got in his leg and had to have a blood clot removed. Hilton told his followers in another post that he was going to be reading the Bible for the first time and credited God for saving his life.
“[God] did something that I can only describe as a miracle. I had been calling out to God for years, opening my heart and inviting Him and now I no longer need to have faith, I no longer need to hope to believe; I know that God is real and that God loves me,” Hilton said in a social media video.
Hilton, whose real name is Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr., rose to fame in the mid-2000s by turning his blog, PerezHilton.com, into one of the internet’s biggest celebrity gossip destinations. Launched in 2004, the site attracted millions of readers with its mix of breaking entertainment news, sharp commentary and often controversial articles. At a time when social media was still in its infancy, Hilton’s unfiltered approach helped reshape celebrity coverage, making him one of the most influential and polarizing voices in entertainment journalism and a regular presence on television and the red carpet.
After his hospital stay, Hilton posted a lengthy video to social media apologizing for his behavior. In the video, he said he carried with him “deep shame and regret” over some of the things he’d done in the past and said he will continue to apologize and reach out to make amends to people.
“I made a lot of mistakes in my past. We all have. Nobody’s perfect,” Hilton said. “But my mistakes are very public … I have apologized publicly and privately to dozens of people.”
Hilton said in the past he didn’t care about whom he hurt and only cared about “the views, the attention, the money,” and that behavior led people to hate him. Hilton also denied that he does gossip and said he does celebrity journalism to support his kids, his mother and also his sister who works for him.
“I know there still are people out there who wanna see me suffer and wanna see me pay for the mistakes and the bad decisions and the hurt that I caused in the past,” he said. “‘Karma.’ And they’re entitled to that opinion. It is valid. I earned those thoughts, but I forgive myself.”
Livestream Incident Prompts Online Criticism
The livestreaming of the alleged incident has prompted criticism online. Though it was taken down quickly, some commenters have argued that it was not removed quickly enough.
The journalist Scott Stedman wrote in a post on X viewed over 400,000 times, “F*** TikTok, f*** Twitter, f*** all these tech platforms that showed the Perez Hilton self-harming live stream,” while the social media user @_0HOUR1 wrote in a post viewed over 170,000 times, “TikTok should be fined how many kids saw Perez Hilton doing that sh*t for 10 minutes.”
Others posted encouraging caution while the video circulates. The social media user @hannahkristine wrote in a post on X viewed over 1.4 million times, “pls be careful there is a very disturbing video of p*rez hilton going around on twitter rn,” while the actor Kevin Sorbo wrote in a post viewed over 300,000 times, “I do not recommend anybody look up the Perez Hilton video, especially if they’re squeamish.”
Social media platforms including TikTok have strict content policy guidelines, which mean videos that include harmful behavior are often detected and taken down.
TikTok states in its community guidelines that, “We want TikTok to be a place where you can discuss emotionally complex topics in a supportive way without increasing the risk of harm. We don’t allow showing, promoting, or sharing plans for suicide or self-harm”
Newsweek has contacted TikTok for comment outside of standard business hours via email.
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, text “988” to the Crisis Text Line at 741741 or go to 988lifeline.org.