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Miami-Born Hollywood Blogger Goes From Nasty To Nice

MIAMI (CBSMiami) Could it be? Notorious Hollywood blogger Perez Hilton, born in Miami of Cuban parents, who made a name for himself by taking aim at celebrities on his website, has discovered his softer side though his new son.

The 35-year-old once dubbed the Internet's "Queen of Mean" spends all of his time with Mario Junior, who was conceived via surrogate and a donor egg.

Until recently, no one knew about Hilton's bundle of joy except his immediate family. For a man who makes a living revealing secrets, Hilton managed to keep this one for nine months.

"It's been amazing, enlightening, exhausting and incredibly rewarding," he said. "I feel like I have baby brain. It's kinda mushy at times. He's also made me a lot more centered."

Hilton added, "I'm a stay-at-home parent and doing it all from morning to night and then at night, I have a baby nurse that's helping out. My baby has made me so much happier. I really have matured into myself."

Born Mario Lavandeira, the openly gay celebrity said that he's always been fascinated by Hollywood.

In 2004, Lavandeira named himself Perez Hilton and created a website of the same name.

"It's a different take on the world of celebrity. Hilton, Paris, Hollywood, Perez. Me, outsider, Latino, gay," he said.

As a blogger, Hilton was clear about who he liked and who he didn't and was immediately dubbed as a liar and a bully.

Doodles on paparazzi photos and name-calling became his M.O. He also became known for outing stars he claimed were gay.

Readers were drawn to what Hilton was dishing out. Currently, he has millions of Twitter followers and five websites.

"I feel like I've tricked the world into thinking I'm a celebrity just by talking about celebrities," he said.

Hilton said he's happy these days, but that wasn't the case a few years ago after an anti-bullying video he made to help young gay teens received public backlash.

"I thought it was a great, easy tool for folks to encourage young people not to take their lives. (But people said,) 'How could you tell kids not to bully when you're a big bully yourself and a hypocrite?' I was like, 'Whoa.' I know in my heart that is not the person I am and if I've become that and have not been able to be aware of it, then I need to make some serious changes."

Hilton later posted a video on YouTube and told the world he was going to do things differently.

He said, "I don't think I started super nasty, but it kind of became this thing that got nastier and nastier. I kind of lost myself in this character I created."

Finding himself meant setting himself apart from the feisty Perez Hilton character he invented, so the blogger decided to tone down his celebrity commentary and changed his wild hair and outrageous wardrobe.

"In the past, I was so uncomfortable that I had to dye my hair all these crazy colors because I was screaming for attention," he said.

In addition, Hilton dropped 80 pounds, all thanks to a healthy diet and daily workouts.

Now, Perez's motivation for his softer side is his son and everyone gets to see the changes baby Mario has made in Hilton's life.

"What I want is for people to not hate me. For people to realize I'm not contributing to the downfall of America. I'm not trying to be the 'Queen of Nice.' I'm still the 'Queen of All Media.' I've got a job to do. I didn't reinvent the wheel. I just put new rims on it," he said.

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