TL;DR
- Celebrity hairstylist Chris Appleton reveals the emotional toll of coming out to his kids.
- He battled deep shame and fear they’d face bullying.
- After a suicide attempt, he chose to embrace his identity.
- Appleton says the journey was a turning point in his life.
- His upcoming book aims to inspire others to live authentically.
Chris Appleton’s Journey: From Silence to Self
Celebrity hairstylist Chris Appleton—best known for slaying the hair of Hollywood’s A-list—just pulled back the curtain on one of the most emotional chapters of his life: telling his kids he’s gay. The confession, which he says took him nearly two decades to reach, wasn’t a glamorous moment under studio lights. It was raw, terrifying, and nearly broke him.
By the age of 26, therapy and a move to Los Angeles had cracked open the dam he’d built around his truth. But for Appleton, the hardest audience wasn’t the public—it was his two children, Billy and Kitty-blu. “My biggest focus in life is being a great dad,” he said. “I will always put them before myself.” That love came tangled with fear: fear they’d be bullied, fear they’d carry the same shame he’d shouldered as a boy.
He first told his partner of nine years, Kate Katon, a woman he deeply loved but whose grief he knew he had to respect. Then came his family. And then—the toughest step—telling the kids. Sitting in the room with their mother, Appleton froze. The words “I’m gay” lodged in his throat. In the end, it was Kate’s mother who said them aloud. The children, just six and eight at the time, were upset mostly because they could see how much pain he was in.
The Breaking Point
The emotional aftermath was crushing. “I felt like I’d messed their life up,” he recalled. His self-loathing spiraled so sharply that he checked into a hotel with painkillers and alcohol, convinced his children would be better off without him. Hours later, he woke in a hospital room. That, he says, was the turning point.
“I realized I couldn’t hate myself any more than I had, and I couldn’t try and stop being gay anymore,” Appleton said. “‘What about if I just surrender? What about if I’m just gay and I just be that?’”
From that night forward, he committed to living—really living—as himself. He described it as letting the eight-year-old boy he once was finally step into the light.Why This Matters for the LGBTQ Community
Appleton’s story isn’t just a personal confession—it’s a lifeline for LGBTQ parents and kids living in silence. His fear that his children would inherit his shame is a reality many queer parents wrestle with in a world where prejudice is alive and well. But his decision to embrace his truth is a reminder that authenticity isn’t just survival—it’s protection. Children learn resilience not from a parent’s perfection, but from their courage to live honestly.
Appleton is now in a good place, ready to share more in his upcoming memoir Your Roots Don’t Define You. His hope? That others will look in the mirror and see not the version they’re told to be, but the one they’ve always been.
For the LGBTQ community, especially those navigating parenthood, his journey is proof that coming out can feel like the scariest leap—and still be the most powerful one.