Entertainment

Perez Hilton’s sister gives update on celeb blogger’s injuries, details his ‘long road’ of recovery

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Warning: The content below contains graphic details.

Perez Hilton (real name: Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr.) remains hospitalized after his devastating suicide attempt on Aug. 4 — and his physical and mental road to recovery is expected to be a long one.

In an exclusive interview with Page Six, Hilton’s sister, Barbara Lavandeira, gave an emotional update on her beloved brother’s health following his alarming TikTok livestream.

“Mario remains hospitalized and continues to receive medical treatment for his injuries. His physical and mental recovery is going to take a lot of time, but we remain hopeful,” Barbara told Page Six Wednesday in her first and only interview since the heartbreaking incident. “He has no access to a cell phone, social media or the internet. Everyone’s focus is on helping him recover physically and making sure he receives the mental and emotional care and support he needs.”

While Barbara refrained from providing specific details on Hilton’s injuries or treatment — as they are “private medical matters” — she did give an update on the wounds he sustained from self-harming while live on TikTok.

“He did sustain cuts to his face and other areas, but it’s still far too early to know the extent of any lasting damage or scarring,” she shared. “What I can say is that he has a long road ahead of him, both physically and mentally.”

When asked if Hilton, 48, remembers the harrowing incident, Barbara said their “visits and conversations with him” have been “limited.”

“I don’t want to speak for Mario about what he does or doesn’t remember,” she said. “He’s with medical professionals, and right now the focus needs to remain on his treatment and recovery. There’ll be time for those conversations when his doctors believe he’s ready.”

As for when Hilton will be able to return home to his family?

“We honestly don’t know. His physical and mental recovery is going to take time, and we’re following the guidance of his doctors,” Barbara told Page Six. “I don’t want to offer a timeline or make promises about when he might come home. Right now, the most important thing is that he receives the treatment he needs and isn’t rushed through any part of his recovery.”

While the focus has been on helping Hilton recover, Barbara and their mother, Teresita Lavandeira, are also taking care of the blogger’s three children — Mario, 13, Mia, 11, and Mayte, 8 — who were at their father’s Miami home before the incident.

“Our main priority is making sure they are safe, supported, and surrounded by people who love them. They’re trying to process something no child should ever have to experience,” Barbara explained.

“They love their father, and the goal is for Mario to get well and be able to care for his children again when he is healthy and able to do so safely. In the meantime, our mother is caring for them, and our entire family is helping provide the love, stability, privacy and professional support they need.”

As Page Six exclusively reported, Teresita filed for temporary custody of the children on Aug. 7, with Hilton “voluntarily” consenting to the custody request.

“Mario’s children have never been taken away from him in the past. Neither my mother nor I are trying to take them away from him permanently now,” Barbara told Page Six, in response to the “false information circulating” regarding custody.

“We are seeking a temporary legal arrangement so our mother can make the necessary decisions for them while Mario receives treatment and recovers.”

During the interview, Barbara continued to address how Teresita has been navigating her son’s recovery and caring for her grandchildren.

“She’s experiencing the heartbreak of watching her son go through something no mother should ever have to witness, while also trying to remain strong and provide stability for his children. She loves Mario, and she loves her grandchildren,” she shared. “Right now, she’s doing everything she can to support all of them while processing her own pain and fear. We’re all trying to support her, too, but this has been incredibly difficult for her.”

As for Barbara herself, she is “still trying to process everything” from that devastating night.

“I keep going over that day in my head and wondering whether there were warning signs I missed or something more I could have done. I’m also trying to help my mother, my nephew and my nieces adjust to this new normal, if we can even call it that,” she explained. “We’ve been having open conversations, spending time together, praying and connecting with cousins and friends. We’re taking things one day at a time because that’s all we can do right now.”

“Something like this would ordinarily be an intensely private family crisis. It should have been a time for us to process what happened, focus on getting Mario the help he needs, support the children, and begin trying to heal,” she continued.

“Instead, we’re trying to do all of that while navigating the public attention and scrutiny surrounding one of the most painful experiences our family has ever been through.”

Hilton’s family has been updating caring fans on his condition through his blog, Perezhilton.com, and his social media accounts.

Barbara admits that while Hilton is focused on his recovery, he’s “left big shoes to fill” regarding his website.

“His absence will definitely affect how much news we’re able to publish, but we’re focused on continuing operations and covering as many of the biggest entertainment stories as we can while he’s unable to participate in creating content,” she told Page Six. “For now, we’ll continue sharing our content across the website’s social media accounts, including links to that content on Perez’s personal accounts.”

“Mario created his website alone and has dedicated much of his life to it,” she continued. “It’s his passion, so once he’s healthy and ready to return, any long-term decisions about the website, his social media platforms, and their future direction should come from him.”

Barbara is grateful to Hilton’s fans who have supported her brother during this difficult time.

“What I can say on behalf of our family is that we’re deeply grateful for every kind message, prayer, and expression of genuine concern. The support has meant more to us than I can properly express,” she said, adding, “When Mario is ready and his doctors believe it’s appropriate, anything he wants to say should come directly from him.”

Elsewhere in Barbara’s first interview since her brother’s suicide attempt, she detailed the gut-wrenching moment she discovered Hilton harming himself.

“August 4th will forever be one of the darkest days my family and I have ever experienced,” Barbara said of the evening Hilton livestreamed acts of self-harm on TikTok, resulting in his hospitalization for life-saving treatment.

“That afternoon, Mario was in his bedroom with the door closed and locked, which wasn’t like him. His door was almost always open,” Barbara explained. “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. I tried calling his cell phone in case he couldn’t hear me, but he wouldn’t answer. Something just felt wrong.”

When Barbara managed to enter the bedroom, she discovered he was locked in the bathroom and unlocked the door, coming face-to-face with her injured brother.

“When I opened the door, my nightmare became a reality. Mario was standing in front of the shower, naked, cut up, covered in blood, with a box cutter in his hand,” Barbara courageously shared.

“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. Then, a split second later, he smiled at me. It felt like I was staring at someone else.”

Barbara fled the home with Hilton’s three children and contacted authorities.

“Eventually, I was able to go back into the house while I waited for the ambulance and place towels over Mario to help stop the bleeding. He had already lost a significant amount of blood, yet he was somehow still able to speak, although his voice was very faint,” she recalled to Page Six. “The ambulance took him to the hospital, and I stayed behind to speak with the crisis team that arrived.”

Also in the interview, Barbara detailed the weeks leading up to Hilton’s suicide attempt — including his hospitalization for “severe depression.”

Two weeks before the self-harm incident at his Miami home, he approached his mother and sister, who was visiting from California, to discuss receiving help for his mental health issues.

“He told us that a few days earlier, he had felt empty, hopeless and like he was a burden on everyone,” she said. “He then admitted that one night, when he couldn’t sleep, he had taken the remaining painkillers from his surgery in March. He said he just wanted to sleep.”

Barbara was referring to when Hilton was hospitalized in March for taking flu medicine on an empty stomach. He developed an ulcer, perforation and sepsis. He spent three weeks in the hospital.

One month later, he underwent emergency surgery for a blood clot.

Barbara agreed to take him to the hospital that same day, as he “went voluntarily.” He was discharged after several days of evaluation and treatment.

“That weekend, Mario seemed so much better,” Barbara recalled. “He looked better, too. We spent time together as a family, and he started looking up coping mechanisms and grounding techniques he had learned during his short stay [in the hospital].”

Hilton “returned to his regular therapy sessions” on Aug. 3. The following day, the day of his suicide attempt, he “completed an intake call for an intensive outpatient program and was supposed to begin outpatient group therapy the following week.”

Sadly, their “lives changed forever” later that afternoon.

Barbara acknowledged “there could have been so many things involved, including severe depression, the lingering effects of his hospitalization and sepsis, not sleeping, possible medication reactions and the combination of prescription and over-the-counter medications he took that day.”

As for why Barbara spoke to Page Six, she explained, “Mario has always been an open book. He’s a public personality and someone who has shared so much of his life online.”

“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 continued. “I can only share what I personally witnessed and experienced, but I want people to hear directly from someone who was actually there.”

For further updates about Perez Hilton from his family, please go to perezhilton.com.

This is the third article in a four-part series. Click here for part one and part two.

If you or someone you know needs help in the US, please call or text the confidential 24/7 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988.

Entertainment

Kourtney Kardashian miscarriage and more

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Travis Barker is opening up like never before.

The Blink-182 drummer stars in the new Hulu documentary, “Travis Barker: Louder Than Fear,” out now, detailing everything from his near-fatal plane crash in 2008 to a “terrifying” surgery, wife Kourtney Kardashian’s miscarriage, their IVF journey and so much more.

The documentary, which was filmed over nine years (from 2017 to 2026), also features a special posthumous cameo from late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, who recalled what it was like meeting Barker when his pal was just a kid.

Keep reading as Page Six breaks down the biggest revelations from the emotional documentary.

Taylor Hawkins provided Barker with early encouragement

Before his death in March 2022, Hawkins reflected on meeting Barker during his “humble beginnings,” when the rocker was picking up garbage in Laguna Beach, California.

“He was a trash man, literally,” Hawkins remembered, “just trying to f–king make something happen.”

Barker was “just a kid” and playing drums for the punk rock band Feeble when he and Hawkins first met. According to the Foo Fighters drummer, those around Barker knew that he was destined for greatness.

“It was like, ‘Oh, you’re gonna get picked up by a band, eventually – and you will be the star attraction in that band,’” he recalled thinking about Barker at the time.

Over the years, Hawkins and Barker remained close pals — so much so that the Blink-182 drummer got a hawk tattoo in honor of his pal after his untimely death.

He also wrote about how Hawkins’ encouragement early in his career gave him “so much hope and determination” in a tribute post he penned via Instagram at the time.

Barker developed an opioid addiction, was taking ’20 to 30 pills a day‘

Barker always had a fear of flying — even before his near-fatal plane crash in 2008, his Blink-182 bandmate Tom DeLonge divulged in the documentary.

The fear led him to develop a years-long addiction to opioids. He has since become sober.

“My friends knew how much I dreaded being on planes, and one of them gave me a pill to help with my anxiety,” Barker explained, noting that he went from taking one or two painkillers, like OxyContin, before a flight to “having to be on them” or he “couldn’t even function.”

Barker said that at the height of his addiction, he was “doing so [many] drugs” that he “had a security guard watching him” 24 hours a day whose “only job was to make sure I was breathing.”

Shanna Moakler — who was married to Barker from 2004 to 2008 — chimed in and reflected on her own experience of dealing with the drummer’s addiction at the time.

“He told me, ‘I take about 20 to 30 pills a day sometimes,’” the model shared, adding that she remembered thinking, “How are you alive?”

During their marriage, Moakler and Barker welcomed two children: son Landon and daughter Alabama. He’s also stepfather to daughter Atiana, whom Moakler shares with ex Oscar De La Hoya.

Alabama eerily said ‘the roof is on fire’ before Barker’s plane crash

Back in September 2008, Barker was critically injured in a plane crash that killed two pilots, along with his personal assistant Chris Baker and security guard Charles “Che” Still. Among the six people who were on board, Barker and Adam “DJ AM” Goldstein were the only survivors.

At the time of the incident, Barker had just performed a gig in Columbia, South Carolina, and was heading to Van Nuys, California. The private plane crashed while departing the Columbia Metropolitan Airport and Barker was engulfed in flames as he made his escape.

“Before I left, my daughter, Alabama, was hysterically crying and saying, like, ‘The roof is on fire, and it’s gonna come off,’” Barker recalled onscreen, noting that her eerie words were “just the weirdest thing.”

He told cameras that his daughter continued to cry for like “two hours straight, after I left,” before the crash occurred.

Barker also addressed Alabama’s premonition on the Aug. 10 episode of the “On Purpose With Jay Shetty” podcast.

“I’d said to my manager, ‘Is it too late to just pull out? I don’t really need to do this,’” he remembered. “I was just so content with being home with the kiddos, and he’s like, ‘Bro, you can’t cancel this late.’ So, I ended up flying out there.”

Sixty-five percent of his body was burnt in the crash

Dr. Peter Grossman, medical director of Grossman Burn Center, was featured in the doc, revealing that Barker was “in really bad shape” with “extensive burns” when he came in after the plane crash.

“There was an absolute concern as to whether or not he would survive,” he said of the drummer.

Barker noted that he didn’t “really understand the severity of it all” at the time.

“There was talk of amputating my foot. Sixty-five percent of my body was burnt,” he recalled, noting that after spending over three months in the hospital and having “27 surgeries,” he “was suicidal.”

Barker had ‘survivor’s guilt’ and stayed with his kids ‘everywhere‘

In August 2009, one year after the plane crash, Goldstein died of a drug overdose. Barker said in the doc that “it was beyond difficult to relate to anybody” after his pal (the only other survivor in the crash) died.

“I felt like I was in ‘Final Destination,’ and I was next,” the musician remembered thinking at the time, admitting that he “definitely” felt survivor’s guilt.

Barker also recalled a conversation he had with Goldstein before his pal’s death. He remembered him saying, “I feel like I don’t have much to live for, and it’s really f–king with me. You’ve got kids, you’ve got a lot to live for.”

Those words stuck with Barker for a long time.

“I would sleep in Landon’s bed, and then Alabama’s bed. I would go back and forth,” he said of how he coped with the trauma.

“I was with them everywhere I went. [My kids] were the best thing for my recovery.”

Kourtney Kardashian was drawn to him after ‘watching him as a father‘

Elsewhere in the doc, Barker addressed how he struck up a romance with his now-wife, Kourtney Kardashian, in 2021.

The musician recalled how he and the reality TV star lived down the street from each other and spent holidays together with their families. Kardashian was already mom to three kids — Mason, Penelope and Reign — with ex Scott Disick.

“Halloween and Christmas, we thrived,” Kardashian said onscreen, adding that they carved pumpkins and made gingerbread houses together with their kids.

She also gushed that watching Barker as a father “always drew [her] to him,” as she “got to know his real values through his kids.”

They were ‘devastated’ by Kardashian’s miscarriage

Six months into their relationship, Kardashian got pregnant and the two were “so happy.”

“Then, we go to the doctor, and the doctor tells us the baby doesn’t have a heartbeat,” recalled Barker, who revealed that the baby was a girl, whom they named Tulip.

Kardashian chimed in, adding, “When we lost the baby, we were devastated. We just laid in bed and cried for days. All we wanted was to have a baby together.”

Kardashian said IVF ‘messed’ with her ‘mentally‘

Following the miscarriage, the couple tried again to have a baby. Kardashian, now 47, was 41 at the time.

“I remember my doctor saying, ‘You have to do IVF,’” she said, adding that it was “so hard on [her] body.”

Their efforts to get pregnant included five in vitro fertilization attempts over the span of eight months, which left Kardashian “so disappointed” each time it didn’t work.

“It messed with me, mentally,” she confessed. “I remember crying to Travis, ‘I can’t do this anymore.’”

In May 2023, she and Barker declared they were “officially done” with IVF and wanted to conceive naturally.

According to Kardashian, she told him, “If God has a baby in store for us, it will happen naturally.”

Kardashian had a ‘terrifying’ surgery’ during her second pregnancy

Kardashian got pregnant again in 2023, and announced her pregnancy that June, during the drummer’s Blink-182 concert in Los Angeles.

She noted that because of Barker’s “trauma,” he was “really worried the whole pregnancy.”

When Kardashian was seven months pregnant — and Barker was on tour in Europe — they found out the baby’s lungs were filling with fluid. Kardashian needed “urgent fetal surgery” to drain it.

“It was terrifying going in for the surgery,” she said, adding that Barker cancelled four shows “and came and laid with me in the hospital, and made sure that everything was OK.”

One month later, their son, Rocky, was born.

Kardashian had a ‘vision’ of Barker’s deceased mother

In another part of the doc, Kardashian spoke about encouraging Barker to fly again. She remembered seeing a “vision” of the musician’s mother, Gloria, who died in 1990 when Barker was 12.

When Kardashian booked a flight to Mexico in 2021 – marking Barker’s first flight since the traumatic 2008 plane crash – they did “breath work” together to calm down.

“This sounds crazy, but during my breath work, a vision of his mom came to me and said, ‘Thank you for taking care of my son,’” Kardashian recalled.

“Travis Barker: Louder than Fear” is now streaming on Hulu.

Entertainment

Ariana Grande goes Instagram-official with on-again boyfriend Ricky Alvarez after announcing break from the spotlight

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Ariana Grande officially hard-launched her on-again boyfriend, Ricky Alvarez, on Instagram.

The “Petals” songstress took to the platform Wednesday to share several loved-up photos with the dancer, including a cozy mirror snap that showed his arm wrapped around her shoulder.

While Grande only showed herself and Alvarez from the neck down, she didn’t shy away from tagging him.

A second blurry snap showed the couple hugging, as the Grammy winner, 33, appeared to be wearing purple fairy wings.

Grande included several selfies and photos of her dogs in the sweet photo dump, which she simply captioned, “🌱 ！ ♡.”

As for Alvarez, 35, he reshared a photo of the pop star sporting a “Petal” T-shirt via his Instagram Stories Wednesday.

He also reposted Grande’s second photo of them hugging.

Last month, Page Six exclusively confirmed that Grande and Alvarez, who dated from 2015 to 2016, had rekindled their romance following her breakup with Ethan Slater after three years together.

“But she isn’t rushing back into the relationship,” an insider told us. “She has a lot on her plate at the moment and is still incredibly busy with her tour schedule, so they’re taking things one step at a time.”

The source explained that Alvarez “has remained close with Ariana’s family over the years, and that’s something she really appreciates.”

“He has also made an effort to show up and support her while she’s on tour, which hasn’t gone unnoticed,” the insider continued.

The “7 Rings” singer embarked on the “Eternal Sunshine” tour in June, and Alvarez was notably in attendance at several shows.

Insiders told Page Six that Grande has been leaning on her beau, who has been “super supportive” of her, as she prepares to take a step back from the limelight when she wraps up her tour in September.

According to her rep, she will take a “much-deserved break” after enduring “endless, ongoing public scrutiny.”

Another source told Page Six that the “Yes, And?” singer also plans on spending her time off with Alvarez, along with her family and friends.

Grande and Alvarez met in 2014 when the latter became her backup dancer. Alvarez later joined Grande on the 2015 Honeymoon Tour.

Entertainment

‘Roseanne’ star defends sitcom’ axing over comedian’s tweets

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Former child star Michael Fishman became emotional while laying out his thoughts on the “Roseanne” reboot’s cancellation back in 2018.

Fishman — who played the title character’s son, DJ Conner, on the beloved sitcom — shared a social media comment regarding the years-old controversy, which saw Roseanne Barr fired from her own revival series after a string of controversial tweets.

“The reboot got canceled because Roseanne made the usual jokes a comedian makes but America decided to backstab Roseanne,” the comment read atop an Instagram reel shared Monday.

“At the time the LGBTQ and woke crap took over and started destroying anything it could. Roseanne was one of the people that all of a sudden got flack for remaining to be a edgy comedian,” it continued. “Funny thing is even if she was racist, she had already said more egregious jokes and nobody batted an eye before.”

Fishman responded directly to the comment on camera, saying, “I get this every day. I get these kinds of ignorant and inaccurate comments daily,” he began, appearing to be exhausted by the sentiment.

“Mostly, I try to ignore them. For over eight years, I’ve been dealing with it quietly,” he continued. “Usually, I don’t respond.”

The actor, now 44, went on, noting, “After eight years, turning the other cheek really isn’t helping.”

“So, I guess the world failed to learn the lesson. So I’m going to point out. We are perpetuating a lie, and people are using a political smokescreen to justify the indefensible,” he said, referencing how Barr called her own actions “indefensible” in an apology at the time.

Back in 2018, Barr was brought to task in the court of public opinion for publicly sharing a polarizing tweet comparing former President Barack Obama’s advisor, Valerie Jarrett, to an “ape.”

The comedian, now 73, defended herself at the time by claiming she’d been on a sleep aid called Ambien and didn’t know that she thought Jarrett was white. She also later blamed God. Ultimately, the show’s reboot was axed by ABC before a second season could materialize.

It was quickly retooled as “The Conners” — without Barr — and that sitcom lasted seven seasons, ending in 2025.

“Those justifications, they’re leading to real consequences. Real crimes,” Fishman said, referencing current-day tragedies involving the deaths of black Americans like T a sia Fortune, Trey Reed and Nolan Wells.

“Dehumanizing people is never a joke,” he noted. “See, when we’re onstage as comedians, or on camera, we have the freedom to say whatever we want. But that doesn’t mean there’s no responsibility and no consequences.”

“The brilliant comedians help us laugh at the darkest, darkest topics,” he went on. “Sadly, in this case, there was no joke. And the show was rightfully canceled. It’s the last time I’m really gonna go into this.”

Fishman allowed in his commentary that “good people make mistakes,” and confessed that he “love[s] the one who made this mistake” and “always will.”

“I’ll always have compassion and love [for Barr], and I’ve shown it continuously and she helped the world understand that good people can make mistakes,” he said.

“But there was no joke. There was only damage and dehumanizing — and perpetuating racial tropes leads to real-world consequences,” he added in part.

“And the only people who are backstabbed were the people who were targeted by the statements. And those who became collateral damage from it,” he said.

Fishman then addressed those who had defended racist comments online or shared their own.

“Be smart enough to just shut the hell up,” the actor concluded the upload. “Don’t finish the statement, don’t hit send and certainly don’t rage against anybody else. Because words have real-world consequences, and some of us deal with them every day. That’s freedom of speech.”

Fishman captioned the reel, “Humanity crumbles when justify dehumanization and stay silent to suffering, inequality, exclusion, and oppression. We can do better. I was shaped by the show I grew up on. Now I am building bigger. Words have consequences.”

A rep for Barr did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment on Tuesday evening.

Back in 2018, Barr addressed the controversial tweets multiple times, apologizing and insisting that it was politically, and not racially, motivated.

The social media rant was “about asking for accountability from the previous administration about the Iran deal, which Valerie Jarrett is the author of, and that was what was in my head,” Barr said in a 2018 interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity.

She added that her initial reaction to the public outcry “was shock that they were saying it was racial, when it’s political.”

In a separate 2018 podcast interview with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, Barr said, “I have to face that it hurt people.”

“When you hurt people even unwillingly there’s no excuse. I don’t want to run off and blather on with excuses,” she added. “But I apologize to anyone who thought, or felt offended and who thought that I meant something that I, in fact, did not mean. It was my own ignorance, and there’s no excuse for that ignorance.”