Chris Appleton is speaking out about his divorce from Lukas Gage.
The former couple went public with their relationship in early 2023, got married in April and then filed for divorce six months later.
While Lukas has previously addressed their short-lived romance, the 42-year-old hairstylist has remained mum until now as he never thought he would talk about it publicly.
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“This is the first time I’ve ever spoke about this. I think people have this perception, from social media probably, that I have it together. I work with these amazing people, life looks glamorous. So, from the outside it probably looks like I got it all together,” Chris shared on the Jay Shetty Podcast.
“But the truth is, especially during that time, I was going through a lot of private pain, and then you go with all the online speculation part,” he continued. “People say things about you, there’s things in the tabloid and people have an opinion on your life. That can be incredibly intense, especially when you’re just trying to deal with things.”
“I think for me, what really helped me was not being okay and, you know, I’ve always believed in therapy and I work with a therapist to really sit in my feelings and really go through them and understand how I felt,” Chris said. “That is really brutal to go through it, but for me, coming out the other side, there’s a part of you that feels like you can, you know, reflect on it and move on.”
He said that one of the biggest lessons he learned was to find alignment and inner peace.
“That wasn’t an easy process, but I think when you align those two, when you genuinely feel good on the inside, I think that’s when your real power comes in place,” the celeb hairstylist continued. “I think, just because there’s a headline about you, doesn’t necessarily mean you have to go explain to everyone about your life. And I think for me, I really wanted to deal with it with peace and deal with it my way.”
“You can love someone and there not be a forever happy ending,” he added. “I think you learn so much from it. I think any relationship I’ve ever gone into I’ve learned so much from it. I’ve learned what’s important to me in terms of boundaries, in terms of how I want to be loved, how I want to love. And that’s a beautiful thing because it means you’re always growing and evolving.”
Chris also hinted that he and Lukas didn’t work out as they weren’t aligned, and addressed moving fast in their relationship.
“Moving fast doesn’t always mean you’re reckless. I think sometimes it means you’re hopeful,” he said. “And I think any relationship I’ve ever been into, I’ve gone into with an open heart. And I have no regrets about that… I would rather love and fall than to never feel anything at all. And I think I’d rather experience something and feel alive than to never put my foot out in the water. And I think as long as you’re growing and evolving from it and things don’t always go to plan, I think as long as you go through it and go through the process of healing, I think that’s really important.”
“An ending doesn’t mean it it didn’t mean anything. It just means it ended,” he added later. “People love to say like oh I knew you know that would happen and that wouldn’t last. But I don’t know, I it’s just who I am. I go in wholeheartedly into every friendship, every relationship, you know, every family member. And I’ve learned to protect myself and also honor myself.”
Chris and Lukas settled their divorce in June 2024, seven months after their split.
Earlier this year, Lukas gave an update on his love life a year after their divorce was finalized.
