Barbara Lavandeira, sister of Perez Hilton, has described the horrifying moment she found him after his graphic livestream, saying his eyes 'didn't look the same' and his smile made her feel like she was 'staring at someone else'.
Nightmare discovery
On August 5, 2026, Perez was hospitalised after appearing to harm himself with a knife during a TikTok stream. The 48-year-old blogger's mother, Teresita Lavandeira, has filed for temporary custody of his three children, who were at the house at the time. He is said to be facing surgery and a long recovery, with the family sharing that his condition is 'serious but stable'.
Barbara, 42, told Page Six that she 'didn't recognise' her brother after bursting into his bathroom after growing concerned. Perez, real name Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr, had been in his bedroom with his door closed and locked, which 'wasn't like him'.
She recalled: 'His door was almost always open. 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.'
Racing to save him
At this moment, Barbara unlocked the bedroom and went inside, approaching the bathroom door and knocking several more times without an answer. Her 'nightmare became a reality' when she entered the room to see her brother 'standing in front of the shower, naked, cut up, covered in blood, with a box cutter in his hand.'
Barbara immediately removed the kids – Mario, 13, Mia, 11, and Mayte, eight – from the home in an effort to shield them from the 'nightmare' inside. She yelled for the children to run to her car, 'thankfully' getting everyone out quickly before asking a friend who lived nearby to take the youngsters away.
In a heroic moment, she called 911 and raced back inside and used towels to staunch the bleeding while waiting for the emergency services to arrive. '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.'
Family's plea for privacy
She added that August 4 'will forever be one of the darkest days my family and I have ever experienced'. Perez's family have largely stayed away from the spotlight but Barbara said she wanted to dispel rumours about what happened that night.
Fans had called police themselves after watching his actions on TikTok, his account has since been suspended and the video taken down. A previous statement from the family said he was being held in hospital under Florida's Baker Act, allowing involuntary hospitalisations.
His communication has been 'extremely limited and confined to immediate family, medical providers, and others directly involved in his care.' The family have requested 'privacy and space', directing fans to his website for any updates during this 'unimaginably difficult time'.
Perez first rose to prominence during the 2000s through his celebrity gossip website, becoming one of the most recognisable figures of the era's online entertainment culture. He later expanded into television and has appeared on reality shows, including Celebrity Rap Superstar and Celebrity Big Brother.
