In your apology you spoke in moral terms: "I want to do what's right. I want to be better. I want to do better." A lot of people didn't recognise that Perez Hilton.
Well, it's not anything new. I've been trying to do better and be better for four years now. I'm not perfect, I'm not trying to be, but it's a constant journey and a process.
What happened in 2010 that started you on that path?
There had been these gay teenagers who committed suicide, and I made a video called It Gets Better, encouraging gay teens about the future. But the response I got was very negative and it very much shook me to my core. People were saying that I was a hypocrite and a bully and a big part of the problem. So I needed to stop hiding behind this character that I created.
Were you surprised people felt that way about you?
Yeah, it was definitely a surprise, because sometimes you lose touch with reality. In my mind, I assumed people knew [my blog] wasn't just all negative but that's not how the world viewed it.
Around this time you bumped into Jennifer Aniston, or 'Maniston' as you call her on the site. What did she say to you?
It was very random, in a carpark outside a restaurant, and she was sat in the passenger seat of a car driving out. We looked at each other: I never thought I'd meet her; I always thought people would keep us apart. She was aware that, at the time, I was on what you'd call Team Jolie, and I explained to her that I viewed the people that I was talking about [on my blog] like soap opera characters. And she just reminded me: "No, I'm a real person."
You thought of it as a game?
Yeah, I didn't really care about others that much. I'd tell myself back then: "If people don't like what I'm writing, they shouldn't read it." It's a very young and foolish thing to say. I've grown up a lot in 10 years.
At its peak perezhilton.com had seven million visitors a day, but according to Alexa internet statistics, the popularity of the site is slightly down, though it's still ranked 1324 most-visited globally. After the recent issues with Jennifer Lawrence, do you worry your hits will take a hit?
No, I started blogging as a hobby and I didn't make any money doing it. So I'm not motivated by the money. For the longest time it was just about having fun, and now it's important to have fun but to not hurt others in the process.
Last year a six-second clip of a guy shouting abuse at you became popular on Vine. How do you take that?
Everybody is entitled to their opinion. I can take anything so long as it's not violent.
You were punched by the tour manager of the Black Eyed Peas after calling will.i.am a "faggot".
Thankfully I've been doing this 10 years and it's only happened one time.
Who is guaranteed clickbait right now?
People still love Kim Kardashian even though, and probably because, she's so polarising: people who love her will click on something and the people who hate her will probably click on it too.
Might we see a backlash against celebrity culture in the future?
I don't think we will. People have always been interested in celebrities: the royals were the original celebrities hundreds of years ago. It's just who those celebrities are that changes. And for younger people, social media personalities are now bigger stars than traditional celebrities.
And you will keep writing about them?
Oh definitely. I'll always be blogging, I love it. It lets me be silly and have fun and entertain people. And just to do work that doesn't feel like work.
- Observer
