Katie Katon and Chris Appleton: What Really Happened

You probably know Chris Appleton as the guy behind Kim Kardashian’s glass hair or Jennifer Lopez’s iconic Super Bowl volume. He’s the quintessential Hollywood glam guru. But long before he was boarding private jets with the Skims founder, Chris was living a very different life in Leicester, England. He wasn't a solo act then. He was one half of a long-term couple with a woman named Katie Katon.

Honestly, the internet gets weirdly confused about this. People see photos of Chris with his two gorgeous, grown-up kids—Billy and Kitty-Blu—and the search bars start smoking. Who is their mother? Was Chris married to a woman? The story of Katie Katon and Chris Appleton isn't some scandalous secret, but it is deeply personal and, frankly, pretty emotional.

The Leicester Years: More Than Just Coworkers

Chris and Katie didn't meet at a red-carpet afterparty. They met in the trenches of a hair salon called Georges Hairdressing in Leicester. Chris started there when he was just 13 years old. Katie was there, too. Eventually, she became the managing director of the salon.

They were together for nine years.
Nine.
That is a lifetime in the beauty industry.

During that decade, they weren't just "dating." They built a world. Chris has described those years as "magical." He wasn't "faking it" in the way some people might assume. He genuinely loved her. He's said as much on the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast, admitting he didn't want to be gay at the time because he didn't want to lose the life—and the woman—he cherished.

Why Everyone Asks About the "Ex-Wife"

Here is the thing: Katie Katon was never Chris Appleton's wife. They never actually walked down the aisle. But when you’ve been together for nearly a decade and have two children, the "wife" label just sort of sticks in the public imagination.

• Billy Appleton was born in 2002. Chris was only 19.
• Kitty-Blu Appleton arrived in 2004.

By the time Chris was 26, he was a father of two living a seemingly traditional life. But internally, things were fracturing. He was "holding his breath," as he put it, hiding his sexuality from the age of eight. Eventually, the pressure became too much to ignore.

The Breaking Point and That Dark Hotel Room

Coming out is rarely easy. Coming out when you have a partner and two toddlers is a different level of heavy. When Chris finally told Katie he was gay in 2009, it wasn't just a breakup; it was the end of a family structure they’d both worked hard to maintain.

The guilt was suffocating. Chris has been incredibly brave about sharing the darker side of this transition. He actually admitted to Shetty that he felt so much shame he contemplated suicide. He checked into a hotel with alcohol and painkillers, genuinely believing his kids would be better off with a dead father than a gay one.

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He called Katie from that room. He apologized for the pain.
That phone call might have saved his life.

Katie’s reaction? Support. Pure, unexpected support. She didn't turn it into a battlefield. While Chris went to the hospital and began the long process of reconciling his identity with his role as a father, Katie stayed steady. She even helped manage the fallout when her mother was the one who eventually told the kids about their dad’s sexuality.

Where is Katie Katon Now?

Katie didn't stay in the hair world forever. While Chris moved to London and then Los Angeles to become a global superstar, Katie pivoted. She moved into a field that makes a lot of sense given everything she lived through: psychotherapy.

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Today, she is a BACP-registered humanistic and integrative psychotherapist in Leicester. She deals with trauma, addiction, and—appropriately enough—sexuality and relationships. She basically took her personal experiences and turned them into a career helping others navigate their own "crashing down" moments.

The Modern Family Dynamic

If you follow Chris on Instagram, you've seen the kids. Billy is a mirror image of his dad, and Kitty-Blu is a rising star in her own right, often appearing on Selling Sunset or at major fashion events. What you don’t always see is the glue holding it together in the background.

• They still spend holidays together.
• They celebrated the Fourth of July as a group in 2025.
• Kitty-Blu calls Katie the "heart" of their family.

It’s a masterclass in conscious uncoupling before that was even a trendy term. They’ve managed to transition from romantic partners to a co-parenting unit that actually seems to like each other.

The Takeaway for the Rest of Us

The saga of Katie Katon and Chris Appleton isn't a story about a "fake" relationship or a hidden life. It’s a story about the complexity of love. You can love someone deeply and still not be meant to be with them romantically.

If you're looking for lessons here, it’s all about the "after." Most people think coming out or ending a long-term relationship has to be a scorched-earth event. It doesn't. Katie chose empathy over anger, and Chris chose honesty over a lie that was killing him.

Next time you see a celebrity’s polished life, remember the Leicester years. Remember that the "hunky hairstylist" had to survive some pretty dark rooms to get to the bright lights of Hollywood. And he didn't do it alone—he had a partner who, despite the hurt, decided to be his biggest advocate.

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To understand their journey better, you can look into:

• The "On Purpose" Podcast: Listen to Chris’s full interview with Jay Shetty (August 2025) for the raw details of his mental health struggle.
• Kitty-Blu’s Social Media: Her Instagram often shows the unpolished, sweet moments between the whole family.
• BACP Professional Registers: If you’re in the UK and looking for trauma-informed care, Katie’s professional practice is a testament to her transition from salon director to mental health expert.