If you were to ask blogger extraordinaire Perez Hilton about his personal Escalera, he would quickly answer that he’s still on the bottom rung. That’s because, as he told us, he’s just getting started with his multimedia career and has tons of big ideas ahead of him. But before we can understand the Perez of the future, it’s important to take a look at the Perez of the past.
Born to Cuban immigrants, Hilton started his life in Miami, Florida. Back then, he was known as Mario Lavandeira Jr., a first son who lived a happy and stable suburban life. Interestingly, the personalities that young Mario gravitated toward most were the Spanish-speaking stars staring at him through his family’s TV set.
"When I was young, I would watch tons of television," Perez told us. "I was never the kid who would go outside and play sports. I was the kid who would come home from school and watch TV for six hours."
One MTV star who really caught young Hilton’s eye was Gloria Estefan. In fact, Perez got his first taste of fame when danced with her and The Miami Sound Machine on a concert stage at the age of six. He candidly confessed that after that moment, he was fascinated with celebrities.
As Hilton got older, he found himself gravitating toward the arts. He joined the drama club, acted in school plays, and eventually got accepted into NYU’s prestigious theater program. Moving away from home also gave him the opportunity to learn more about himself and, by his freshman year of college, Perez "outed" himself as a proud gay man.
After college, Hilton struggled to find his perfect career niche. There were acting roles, stints writing for tabloids, and the discovery of a new untapped medium called "blogging." What started out as a hobby, soon became a full-fledged career when Perez’s Page Six Six Six website built up a loyal base of gossip-hungry followers.
But unfortunately, The New York Post and their "Page Six" brand were not happy with Hilton’s kitschy title and ordered him to drop it. Starting from scratch, the 20-something blogger renamed himself "Perez Hilton" and an empire was born!
"Why did I call it Perez Hilton? I just loved that when you hear that name for the first time, you know something is strange about it," he said. "And the Perez part is also a nod to my upbringing and my heritage."
Almost immediately the "Perez" brand took off, gaining a reputation for its breaking news, funny doodles, and tongue-and-cheek name calling tactics. Not everyone was pleased with Hilton’s brand of sarcasm though and soon his little blog was dubbed "the world’s most hated website."
But the public at large loved Perez’s unique approach and hundreds of millions of web browsers began clicking over every month. And though his style has changed slightly in recent months (Hilton adopted a "positive" spin in 2010 to promote anti-bullying), the fans keep coming back for more.
Now Perez has over five different sites, all devoted to different aspects of the celebrity lifestyle. And beyond that, he’s a celebrated children’s author, having recently published The Boy With The Pink Hair. Hilton told us that he plans to expand his empire even further, with TV shows, music projects, and more.
"I’m super ambitious, I’m still what they call hungry," Perez told us. "And I still have a lot more work left to do!"
Are you excited to see what Perez does next? Sound off in the comments or @MTV3.
Copyright : Tr3s
