Perez Hilton’s sister, Barbara Lavandeira, shared harrowing details about coming face-to-face with the blogger on the night he filmed a troubling livestream that led to his hospitalization.
“What I can say with certainty is that I didn’t recognize my brother when I looked at him. I saw it in his eyes. They didn’t look the same,” Lavandeira told Page Six about discovering Hilton’s injuries. “Then, a split second later, he smiled at me. It felt like I was staring at someone else.”
On August 4, Hilton went live via TikTok to allegedly stream himself performing dangerous acts of self-harm. (TikTok subsequently banned Hilton’s account for violating its terms of service though a spokesperson for the social media platform also acknowledged that human error allowed the stream to continue for over 10 minutes.)
A Miami-Dade police spokesperson confirmed to Us that law enforcement officials received calls “regarding an individual who was live-streaming acts of self-harm on social media” and were then dispatched to Hilton’s Florida home for what they suspected was a “possible suicide” attempt.
In her new interview, Lavandeira described August 4 as “one of the darkest days my family and I have ever experienced.” She explained that a frightening chain of events unfolded after she noticed Hilton had locked himself in his bedroom.
“When I knocked, he said he was fine, but I could barely hear him,” she remembered. “After I knocked a few more times and asked him to open the door, he stopped responding. I tried calling his cell phone in case he couldn’t hear me, but he wouldn’t answer. Something just felt wrong.”
Lavandeira eventually was able to get the door open and entered her brother’s bathroom, where she discovered the horrific nature of his injuries from allegedly performing acts of self-harm.
In the moments after discovering her brother’s condition, Lavandeira took steps to get Hilton’s three children out of the Miami residence.
“The first call I made was to the police,” she said. “Then I 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 was eventually hospitalized, with his family confirming that he needed surgery due to the “significant blood loss” and “additional injuries” he suffered during the traumatic livestream.
Lavandeira has chosen not to share more details about the nature of her brother’s injuries out of respect for his privacy. She stressed that she is speaking out now as “the only person who witnessed what happened from the beginning to the end” in order to “offer some clarity.”
“I’m talking now for everyone who cares about him and has been sending their best wishes, but also because of all the rumors, false reporting, fake exclusives, and made-up quotes going around,” she noted. “I can only share what I personally witnessed and experienced, but I want people to hear directly from someone who was actually there.”
Lavandeira also addressed the way her brother’s hospitalization has resurfaced some of his past controversies, as celebrities like Ireland Baldwin and the late Michael Jackson‘s nephew, TJ Jackson, wished him well while also recalling how his blog caused them harm in the past.
“The comments [from people on social media] calling this ‘karma’ have been especially painful,” Lavandeira said. “I wouldn’t wish what my mother, [Perez’s] children, or our entire family is experiencing on anyone … I’m not asking anyone to forget or excuse any of that. I also understand that some people will always believe he hasn’t done enough, despite his efforts.”
She went on, “I’m simply asking people to recognize that he has changed tremendously over the past 20 years and has genuinely tried to become a better person. 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.”
Us confirmed on Wednesday, August 12, that Hilton’s mother, Teresita Lavandeira, filed court papers to secure temporary custody of the blogger’s three children — Mario, 13, Mia, 11, and Mayte, 8. Court documents indicated that Hilton “voluntarily consented” to the temporary change in custody.
“My main concern and objective, as well as the family’s, is to protect the children and make sure they are safe,” Hilton’s attorney Natalie Guerra-Valdes told Us in a statement on Wednesday. “We want them to have some sense of normalcy as they begin their journey of healing after the tragic events that occurred last week.”
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