By Milo Haskour —
The latest juicy gossip: The “most hated man in Hollywood” who slammed celebrities over drug and sex rumnors is now reading a Bible and describes himself as a changed man.
Perez Hilton — who insulted, humiliated, fat-shamed and scandal-mongered his way to millions of views in the early 2000s — was hospitalized for 21 days and nearly died of sepsis and a stomach ulcer that had to be operated, when God appeared.
“God presented himself to me,” Hilton declared in an April video. “It was not a feeling. God presented himself to me…And then healed me, [He] did something that I can only describe as a miracle. I had been calling out to God for years, opening my heart and inviting Him and now I no longer need to have faith, I no longer need to hope to believe; I know that God is real and that God loves me.”
On the issue of his homosexuality, Perez may still be processing what scriptures say, and for the moment he shows intransigence. “I am gay. I am very gay,” he says. “This is how God made me.”
Hilton, whose real name is Mario Armando Lavandeira, Jr., was raised Catholic but never believed. Then, the man who specialized in breaking others got broken himself by the health scare.
“God destroyed me — destroyed me — more than once, to build me back up stronger and better than before,” he says.
Hilton was one of the originators of shock content. His grist: breakups, affairs, substance abuse , weight gain, fashion disasters, feuds, humiliations and uncloseting celebrities. Scribbled snarky comments over pictures of celebrities was his trademark. He was deliberately attention-seeking, provocative, unapologetic and mean-spirited.
It earned him enemies. He relished feuding with Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus Lindsay, Lohan Jennifer Aniston and Will.i.am. He’s been sued multiple times.
After encountering God and reading his Bible, he has publicly repented for his antics.
“I made a lot of mistakes in my past. We all have. Nobody’s perfect,” he says. “But my mistakes are very public. The internet is forever. Receipts are forever. I carry with me deep shame and regret. I’m sorry. I will continue to apologize. I have also reached out to make amends. I’ve apologized publicly and privately to dozens of people.
“Because I was so selfish, because I didn’t care who I hurt. I just cared about the views, the attention, the money — people hated me,” he adds. “Some people enjoyed it, but it felt like most people hated me. And last week, since I’ve been home, I haven’t been getting as much hate, and I’ve been getting love and prayers.”
Hilton, an openly gay single father of three children living in Las Vegas, started documenting his Bible-reading journey. “If you don’t like this content, you can just not watch it,” he says. His sickness started with a flu, which he worsened by flouting prescription directions: he took the meds without food.
“I know that God is real,” Hilton says. “I know that God saved me. And I know that God loves me.”
