Late Tuesday evening, the Daily Mail broke a story about an emergency response team sent to Sen. Ted Cruz's home in Houston at 8 P.M. CST Tuesday to treat a 14-year-old patient who had reportedly experienced self-inflicted injuries.

The Daily Mail, and other media to follow, speculated that the victim was Cruz's 14-year-old daughter, Caroline.

Shortly before 12 midnight E.T. Tuesday, the Daily Beast reported the story:

Police and medical personnel were called to the Texas home of Sen. Ted Cruz Tuesday night after reports of a 14-year-old girl at the property suffering from self-inflicted stab wounds to her arms.

The teen was taken to the hospital shortly after. It's unclear who the girl was — though Cruz does have two daughters: Catherine, 11, and Caroline, 14.

In a response to The Daily Beast, a representative for his office said: "This is a family matter, and thankfully their daughter is okay."

There "were no serious injuries," the representative said.

"The family requests that the media respect their daughter's privacy at this time."

Sen. Cruz was in Washington, D.C., and it was unclear if he would be traveling to Houston.

As KHOU-TV in Houston reported, "[i]t's unclear if Cruz will leave Washington after the incident."

The backstory here is that Caroline Cruz, 14, the elder of Ted Cruz's and his wife's two daughters, emerged earlier this year in a TikTok video as a bisexual teen.  She also expressed frustration that she was being judged for her father's conservative political positions, most of which, she insisted, she did not agree with.  As marca.com reported:

Caroline Cruz went viral in early 2022 thanks to a TikTok post in which she answered followers questions regarding what it's like be a the daughter of a Senator and being in the public eye.

In the TikTok video she explained she disagrees with her father's stances on "almost everything" and complained about her lack of privacy: "I literally have to have security following me everywhere."

The elder Cruz daughter also complained that they photoshopped her family's Christmas card to make her top appear longer than what it was. She also expressed her displeasure at being judged due to who her father is.

Marca.com published the shared photo of the Cruz family from Christmas 2021 that Caroline Cruz objected to, published on TikTok.

The Cruz family Christmas card, as shared by Caroline (right).  Source: TikTok/@_caro_iguess_.

According to the Daily Mail:

Caroline, whose TikTok account @_caro_iguess_ has since been made private, started gaining new followers after people identified her as the Texas senator's oldest daughter.

The teenager made the video which was re-shared on Twitter — after several TikTokers questioned what it was like to be Cruz's daughter.

When another user questioned about her sexuality and whether Cruz was aware of it, Caroline replied: 'I haven't told him yet, I'm kinda nervous to tbh but I don't think he would be mad about it.'

A representative for the Senator said the incident (on December 6) was a 'family matter' and that Cruz's daughters were fine. 'This is a family matter, and thankfully their daughter is okay. There were no serious injuries. The family requests that the media respect their daughter's privacy at this time,' the statement said.

As the representative of the Cruz office said in a statement, this is a family matter and should be left to the family.  Unfortunately, in today's hyper-politicized environment, it probably won't be.  And that is a sad commentary on our times.

Peter Barry Chowka is a veteran journalist who has covered national politics, the politics and economics of health care, popular culture, and media for over five decades.  His web page with links to his work is http://peter.media.  Peter's extensive American Thinker archive: http://tinyurl.com/pcathinker.  Follow Peter on Twitter at @pchowka.