Perez Hilton, one of the first significant “celebrity” bloggers, existed before TMZ. Hilton (actual name Mario Lavandeira Jr.) was the go-to celebrity gossip source in the mid-2000s for anyone searching for a juicy bit of celebrity gossip. While he seemed to place some “celebrities” on a pedestal (see: Paris Hilton, from whom he derived his pen name), others became frequent objects of Hilton’s frequently vicious smear campaigns. One of the latter was Britney Spears, and Hilton is now suffering the price.
There was a sort of reckoning around Spears and her career earlier this year, following the February release of The New York Times documentary Framing Britney Spears, which detailed the conservatorship she’s been under since 2008 and her fight to be released from it, as well as the hyper-sexualized, and often abusive, way she was treated by both those around her and the media. And Hilton has played a significant role in the discussion.
“I can’t say I was just young and dumb,” he told Sky News earlier this week of his treatment of Spears. “I think we know a lot more. And initially, many folks, myself included, were shocked and alarmed and especially concerned for her young children … I know I did not express myself as well as I could have. I didn’t lead with empathy and compassion, which thankfully seems like most people now are understanding the severity of Britney’s situation. I absolutely apologize and carry deep shame and regret.”
Yet, as The Wrap reports, that “deep shame and regret” didn’t seem evident in parts of a 20-minute video Hilton released on his YouTube page on Wednesday, in which he seemed more bothered by how he was currently being treated. Hilton—decked out in a Britney T-shirt—complained:
“Today I have been getting so much hate and bullying from people who were and are upset about how I used to talk about Britney Spears. And my message to all those people is: f*ck you! It just does not compute that you’re going to bully someone for bullying somebody in the past. How does that make you any better than what I did? I fully own how reprehensible I used to be in the day.”
Something doesn’t seem to add up. Despite the fact that being outrageously sardonic was part of Hilton’s image, certain lines of decency were frequently breached. For example, after Heath Ledger’s death in 2008, Perez had T-shirts printed that said, “Why Wasn’t It Britney?”
The recent press headlines about Spears aren’t the first time Hilton has spoken up about his treatment of her. Hilton expressed guilt for the manner he talked about Britney in his 2020 memoir TMI: My Life in Scandal, writing:
“It was so bad that I could hardly believe what I was seeing and hearing. That’s why I didn’t try to soften the blow: I wrote that she should be ashamed of herself, that she was an embarrassment—something I really regret today. I just assumed that her meltdown was a result of her wild party lifestyle and all the drugs she was taking. It never occurred to me that there might be some kind of mental health issue behind her behavior. Looking back now, it really does seem like Britney is lucky to still be alive.”
