The internet has seen its share of Perez Hilton’s tearful meltdowns and self-deprecations. As one of the first bloggers on the scene before the term blogger was even really a thing, Hilton (real name Maro Lavanderria) is no stranger to scandal, rumors, and gossip about celebrity love lives. With an early reputation for being notoriously vitriolic and sometimes waging vicious tirades against celebs, he was not considered likable by any stretch of the imagination. In recent years though, a kinder (allegedly) Hilton has emerged.
With some of his internet fame waining, Hilton has attempted to expand in other directions in media. He’s currently a contestant on the Australian version of I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here. In a recent interview, he shared with Tanya Hennessy the difficulty he’s having finding a boyfriend.
In an honest self-admission, Hilton acknowledges that his past reputation plagues him, and it’s become a deterrent; a reason for men’s avoidance. The truth of the matter is that for most of his career he has been a polarizing figure in existence of duality where pop culture-loving fans adore him, but as for gay men – not so much. In his own words, Hilton breaks it down,
“The overwhelming majority of gay men don’t like me. That’s hard. I believe everybody deserves love and companionship.”
Hilton claims to have seen the errors of his ways after the 2010 suicide of Tyler Clementi. Clementi was an 18-year-old college student who took his own life, unable to face the public humiliation after his college roommate secretly broadcast him live having sex with a male partner. It was a heinous violation of privacy, arrests were made and two college students were brought up on charges. In the aftermath, many celebrities, including Hilton, spoke out to honor Clementi as part of the “It Get’s Better” anti-bullying campaign.
Still, Hilton faced the wrath of an angry public who reminded him of his unique brand of nasty bullying of celebrities that he turned into a business. He was called a hypocrite and gay men were among his most severe critics.
Over the years, Hilton has gone under a bit of a physical transformation, having lost significant weight, which boosted his confidence as a single man. Still, he admits though, it’s his past, awful reputation that continues to make it challenging to meet someone with whom he can build a relationship.
In reality, though, Hilton has quite a few other substantive hurdles to clear when it comes to wooing and pursuing a potential new beau. According to Queerty,
In the not-so-distant past, Hilton has come under fire for biphobia, joking about asexuals, defending Donald Trump, shaming female celebrities for not having children, and refusing to send his son to dance class so he can grow up
Oh yea, that’s hot. Sign me up for some of that!
I’ve met Perez in person at a gathering before and I can tell you first hand that his inability to find a boyfriend has nothing to do with his past and everything to do with him. I found him to be pretentious, high strung, severely insecure and lacking any real depth of character. The baggage emanates from him on a grand scale. There must be someone for him but I think some serious therapy is needed before that can happen. Good luck.