Perez Hilton said he “privately” reached out to A-listers, including Britney Spears and Khloé Kardashian, to apologize for his harsh coverage of their personal lives in the weeks leading up to his apparent self-harm livestream.
“I’ve made amends, or tried to, with a lot of people,” Hilton told Sean Hannity during an episode of “Hang Out With Sean Hannity” that was originally recorded July 14 and released on Thursday.
He added that he’s “reached out to them privately. I mean, I even reached out to Britney Spears.”
Hannity asked how the interaction went, to which the gossip blogger replied, “well, according to the intermediary that relayed what I wrote to her…”
“I reached out to Khloé Kardashian and she responded back,” Hilton further divulged, noting that the “Kardashians” star “was very kind.”
“Some people don’t respond back, and that’s fine,” he added, to which the Fox News personality quipped, “I never got my letter.”
“Well, I’m sorry, right here, right now,” Hilton, 48, replied.
Elsewhere in the interview, the duo discussed cancel culture, which Hannity said he doesn’t believe in. “Well, I’ve evolved in that myself,” Hilton confessed, noting that the words of Nick Cannon “resonated” with him and “really helped shift [his] thinking.”
“He said, ‘counsel culture’, not ‘cancel culture,’” Hilton recalled, admitting that he himself was “cancelled so many times.”
“Like, you can’t cancel me anymore,” he joked.
Hannity called Hilton out for his past tactics — which he listed as “mocking celebrities’ bodies and appearances, speculating about sexuality” — and asked him if he engages in them anymore.
Hilton responded, “No.”
“Because I realized what I was doing was wrong,” Hilton continued. “[I realized] that I could still be fun, but I don’t have to be so cheap, and I don’t have to be so cruel.”
“And that, you know, is something that I carry with me,” he continued. “It’s like my scarlet letter. And it’s very heavy baggage.”
When the topic turned to Hilton’s past practice of outing gay celebrities, the media personality said he’d spoken to Neil Patrick Harris since launching an online campaign to out the “How I Met Your Mother” actor back in 2006.
“I had made amends with him, and he asked me to write something in his memoir,” Hilton said, referencing the Tony winner’s 2014 book, “Choose Your Own Autobiography.”
“So, I wrote a little something in there and he was very, very gracious,” Hilton recalled.
Looking back on his coverage of Harris’ personal life, Hilton compared it to “a witch hunt.”
“I was, you know, trying to track down people that he dated,” he said, “I viewed it as entertainment, and it’s their lives.”
He recalled running into Jennifer Aniston in a parking garage in Los Angeles and expressing surprise at the surreal encounter, with the “Friends” star telling him, “I’m a real person.”
Hilton made headlines earlier this week after being hospitalized following what was called a “suicide attempt” in dispatch audio from a 911 call.
Authorities arrived at Hilton’s Miami home, and several hours later, confirmed the media personality was “safely recovered and transported … to a local hospital.”
His family issued an update on Wednesday indicating Hilton, whose real name is Mario Lavandeira, Jr., is “receiving medical care” and is “able to communicate.”
“We’re taking things one step at a time and keeping our focus where it belongs, on Perez and his recovery,” the statement added.
The father of three had been facing mounting pressures after a pair of hospitalizations earlier this year, subsequent medical bills, and a move from Las Vegas to Miami.
“He’s one of the hardest-working people I know, and suddenly being faced with these mounting financial pressures was a lot for him,” an insider told us on Wednesday.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or text the Crisis Text Line at 741741.
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