Perez Hilton's sister, Barbara Lavandeira, has given a detailed account of finding the blogger, real name Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr, badly injured at his Miami home last week following a livestreamed self-harm incident. Hilton, 48, was hospitalised on 4 August after police responded to reports of a possible suicide attempt; Barbara, who was visiting from California, described breaking into his locked bathroom and finding him covered in blood with a box cutter, before rushing his three children and her own child out of the house to shield them from the scene.

Barbara recounted becoming alarmed when her brother stopped responding from behind his usually open bedroom door, eventually forcing her way in and discovering him by the shower, saying she "didn't recognise" him and that his eyes and smile seemed to belong to "someone else". After getting the children to safety and calling emergency services, she returned to try to stem his bleeding with towels until paramedics arrived. Three days later, on 7 August, Hilton's mother filed a Miami court petition seeking temporary custody of his children, Mario, 13, Mia, 11, and Mayte, eight, according to public records.