Mr Gossip steps into the real world - Perez Hilton, scourge of celebrities, is now as famous as his blog’s targets. As he signs a series of megadeals, he tells why he relishes outrage

“For a man who strikes fear into the heart of the modern celebrity, Perez Hilton looks disappointingly unthreatening in the flesh. He resembles nothing so much as an overgrown adolescent dropout: all dyed pink hair, baggy surfer shorts and thick-framed glasses. You could imagine him at high school, sitting at the back of the class in an ironic slogan T-shirt, the computer nerd who was never quite cool enough to be invited to the prom. ‘Oh I don’t think I was ever cool at school,’ he admits, with a disarmingly high-pitched giggle. ‘I’m still not one of the cool people. I’m a freak and that’s a great thing.

It is not surprising that the 29-year-old Hilton revels in his freakishness. Over the past three years, the Los Angeles-based blogger has become an internet phenomenon. His blog, Perezhilton.com, an indefinable mishmash of exclusive celebrity gossip, acerbic put-downs and precisely targeted humiliation, now has 2.6 million visitors a month. It is one of the top 10 entertainment websites worldwide and so influential that celebrities themselves use it as a notice board - last month, Amy Winehouse issued a series of statements to deny reports that her husband had assaulted her.’”

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