Celebrity hairstylist Chris Appleton is opening up about his divorce from actor Lukas Gage for the first time.
“It was definitely the first time that I’d experienced that magnitude of people being so invested in my private life,” Appleton, 42, said on the Wednesday, August 6, episode of Jay Shetty’s “On Purpose” podcast. “People have this perception from social media [that I] probably have it together. I work with these amazing people, [and my] life looks glamorous. From the outside, it probably looks like I got it all together, but the truth is, especially during that time, I was going through a lot of private pain.”
Appleton and Gage, 30, confirmed their romance in February 2023, two months before Luxury Handbag Shopping broke the news in April 2023 that the twosome were engaged. Appleton and the White Lotus alum got married that same month in a ceremony officiated by Appleton’s longtime client Kim Kardashian.
Us confirmed in November 2023 that Appleton filed for divorce after six months of marriage. They reached a divorce settlement in June 2024.
“What really helped me was not being OK, and I’ve always believed in therapy,” Appleton said on Wednesday’s podcast episode of dealing with the breakup. “I work with a therapist to really sit in my feelings, and really go through them and understand how I felt. That was really brutal to go through it.”
Now that Appleton has come “out on the other side,” he’s been able to move on from his whirlwind marriage.
“One of the biggest lessons I learned is finding alignment from what I do is all about [the] visual. It’s what I’ve done my whole life,” Appleton explained. “What people see of me is this visual representation of Chris Appleton. But, I think, for me, there was a real piece in finding alignment and inner peace on the inside. That wasn’t an easy process. … When you align those two, I think that’s when your real power comes into place.”
Appleton further stressed that he wanted to deal with the divorce “with peace and [in his] way.”
“That’s the interesting thing about living in the public eye is people have an opinion, and that’s OK,” he said. “I don’t mind people saying good and bad things ‘cause you put yourself out into the arena [and] you’re going to get that. I think, for me as a dad, I wanted to protect my kids. I always want to do that, and I’m very aware any relationship I go into, there will be conversation around that.”
Appleton shares kids Billy, 22, and Kitty-blu, 20, with former partner Katie Katon. He publicly came out as gay when he was 26 after he broke up with Katon.
