Jennifer Lopez, Ariana Grande, and Kim Kardashian’s hunky hairstylist Chris Appleton has been known to be an out and proud gay man who was previously married to White Lotus‘ Lukas Cage from April to November 2023 and was last rumored to be dating Harvard-educated art collector Federico Castro Debernardi. However, getting to this point in his life wasn’t the smoothest ride.
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The 41-year-old hairstylist is father to two kids with his previous long-time female partner of nine years. Appleton dropped by Bethenny Frankel’s podcast to talk about how he thought he had his life “all figured out,” after having children in his early 20s.
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On Frankel’s Just B podcast, the successful celebrity hairstylist reflected on his early struggles with feeling different—first due to being dyslexic and later due to the prejudice he faced for not understanding his sexuality during his younger years.
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At the time, Chris hadn’t fully discovered or embraced his identity—or perhaps he had, but the prejudice he encountered made coming out seem impossible. On top of that, as a young man pursuing a career in hairdressing, he was bullied and frequently called gay. Regardless, he thought he might have had it all figured out and initially thought he was saving people from getting hurt, not realizing that he was hurting himself even more in the long run.
“I was never too focused on sexuality, but people at school always brought it up. As a kid, you never want to feel different—I already felt different because I was dyslexic.”
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You can’t fault a person for not having their life figured out right away, and the same goes for Appleton who came out at 26-years-old after already having had two kids with his long-time partner.
“I think coming out later on in life–I was 26–was incredibly difficult because I had two kids, I had a partner I’d been with for nine years, I thought I had it all figured out. Everybody else also thought I had it figured out. So, when you’re all of a sudden then changing the record, people are like: ‘Well, you must have always known,’ and I didn’t realize I did.”
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The conversation around coming out, identifying yourself, and figuring out what you want in life is so complex and complicated even when it doesn’t have to be–and this is exactly what happened to Appleton during his 20s. So when the UK native finally found it in himself to be wholly authentic and honest, he was finally able to figure out who he is as a person, and a very successful one, if I may add.
“Once I let go of all the guilt and shame of it all, my whole life changed. I moved to America, it was amazing how much I grew and changed.”
Now that Chris has figured out his identity, you can tell that he is able to live his truth through his craft and thirst traps (*wink*). Appleton’s long list of Hollywood A-list clients, which include JLo, Kim Kardashia, Ariana Grande, Drew Barrymore, Sophia Vergara (the list just goes on-and-on), appear to be close to the hairstylist, which speaks volumes of his character and professionalism. He’s in demand at work and everywhere else! So in honor of Chris’ candid interview, let’s take a look at some of his hottest moments on the Gram!