Perez Hilton: ‘Mum inspired my love of gossip’

People’s attitude to gossip is determined by their culture, celebrity blogger and columnist Perez Hilton has said.

In Anglo-America the word "gossip" had negative connotations, he told Stephen Sackur, on the BBC News Hardtalk programme.

"In England, gossiping is not as commonplace or even celebrated as much as it is in Latino culture," he said.

"But it is not as frowned upon as it is in the United States by US Americans."

Hilton, whose real name is Mario Lavandeira, started his gossip blog in 2005.

In a recently published autobiography, he writes: "I have a tonne of regrets, particularly because I now see that I never needed to be so mean or cruel."

Watch the full interview on Monday, 2 November 2020, on BBC World News or watch again on BBC iPlayer (UK only).