What To Say If Your Child Mentions The Perez Hilton Livestream

Therapists share how is best to handle this sensitive conversation.

Parents editor at HuffPost UK

This article discusses self-harm.

Earlier this week, it was reported that celebrity blogger Perez Hilton was receiving emergency medical care following a livestream in which he appeared to self-harm.

Police were dispatched to the internet personality’s home in Florida on Tuesday night, after concerning footage was circulated on social media, according to reports. He was then taken to a nearby hospital where he received medical attention and care from mental health professionals.

His family have since shared a statement saying Perez – who has three children aged 13, 11 and eight – is “able to communicate”. They asked for “continued prayers, understanding, and grace” as he continues to recover.

While TikTok confirmed it had removed the livestream, the Guardian reported that footage has also been “widely circulated across other platforms”. As a result, there’s a chance kids and teens might come across it – or actively seek it out.

Dr Catherine Knibbs, a therapist and online harms expert, shared that she’d been messaged a number of times about the Perez Hilton livestream.

She said in a social media video that she wanted to give parents a “heads up” as “your children might have seen, might still see, or might know about” what happened with the online personality.

“Some of your children will be, kind of just, they’ll pass it by; other children might be distressed, confused, want to understand it – and this is where, as a parent, we need to have open conversations,” said Dr Knibbs.

So, how is best to talk to young people about this?

If your child mentions the video, or what happened to Perez Hilton, experts agree that the best thing parents can do in this instance is keep the conversation going, and not shut it down.

“When children don’t understand what they’ve seen and we shut the door on communication, they tend to fill in the gaps........

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