Chris Appleton calls Kris Jenner ‘mother of all mothers’ at Grammys
Hair stylist Chris Appleton chats with USA TODAY’s Ralphie Aversa about Kris Jenner, the Grammys red carpet and his 2024.
Have you ever wanted to be styled by the same hands that created iconic celebrity looks for Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Lopez and Ariana Grande?
Step into Chris Appleton’s metaphorical chair in “Your Roots Don’t Define You” (out now from Hanover Square Press), a memoir that peels back the layers on celebrity styling. More than just hair tips, this book chronicles his life through bullying, coming out as gay and divorce from actor Lukas Gage.
When the England-born stylist looks in the mirror, he sees how those dark moments helped him transform. His first draft of this memoir was coated in Hollywood glitz and glamour. But a cancer scare made him realize he needed to start from a place of vulnerability, he tells USA TODAY. He scrapped it and started anew.
“I hope in doing that, it inspires someone that feels alone, someone that doesn’t feel seen, someone that’s asked the question, ‘Is this it? Is this where I’m supposed to be in my life? Was this my choice?’” Appleton says. “Whether that’s a marriage or a friendship or a job, or even if it’s just a haircut you’ve had your whole life, it’s realizing you can own your own story, you can make a change.”
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Question: ‘Your Roots Don’t Define You’ kicks off with a foreword from Kris Jenner. How did that come about?
Appleton: I asked Kris because I felt she’s really shown how to reinvent yourself and to realize it’s never too late to make your comeback. When she had a facelift, she was really open about it, we changed her hair.
I asked her and I kind of expected her to say no, honestly. But when she said yes, she would love to, I was very honored and surprised. I felt very proud of my journey to have someone as amazing as Kris Jenner to write anything about my book or even to acknowledge it existed.
What are your roots? What pushed you to be the person you are today?
I wanted to talk about those moments and the bits of darker times in my life because I feel like people probably had a polished idea of what Chris Appleton looks like from social media and I really wanted to scratch underneath the surface.
Being told what I should be and being told what was normal and how to live my life was something that I listened to from a young age. I was incredibly bullied at school because I did hair, and it was before I even really thought about sexuality. I was told I was gay and I had not even discovered that myself.
When I did come out at the age of 27, it was probably the time that I actually stopped and took a look at myself in the mirror. I think I made a career out of making other people stop and look. I just never looked myself. I had so much shame and fear around people telling me I should be a certain way and act a certain way.
You’re open about your short-lived marriage to Lukas Gage in the book. What kind of transformation was that relationship?
Every time I’ve been in a relationship or left it, I’ve always tried to look back and be reflective on what I’ve learned. I think where I’m at in my life now, I’m in a different place. I think I’m very much about realizing that sometimes the love you give to other people is actually the love I needed to give to myself. I think once you realize that, it’s very self-empowering.
Writing the book was very healing. It was a very healing part of realizing that and very grounding to realize that it doesn’t make you selfish to have self-love, it actually makes you whole because a lot of people don’t.
Styling takes communication and trust. Have you ever had a “just trust me” moment with a celebrity client that paid off?
There’s a story [in the book] about Christina Aguilera where I did her hair for The Voice and there was supposed to be three hours of glam. I ended up only having 20 minutes.
I was very nervous. I just moved to America. It was my first big gig and I’d prepped all these hairpieces and wigs and because there was only 20 minutes, I thought this little hairpiece would look great. She’s like, “Oh, I don’t like hairpieces. I don’t like wigs.”
I felt incredibly paralyzed and I could feel myself just kind of freezing and time just going by really slow.
I [remembered] this moment where the mother of my kids, Kate − and we’re still best friends now − said to me on the way, “Chris, if you don’t make this work, you’re going to have to come home.”
I just came back to myself and I thought, “I know what I’m doing. I’ve done this for 30 years.” I prepped all these pieces and I knew they were great. I was like, “Why don’t we just try this? Just trust me.” I tried it on and she was like, “Oh, I like it. ” Then the stylist said, “I like it.” So I quickly put this piece in her hair and blended her hair into it and off she went on the live show. Then when she came off, she looked over at me and she was like, “Everyone likes your wig.” In that moment, I fully knew I’d done it.
What other “pinch me” moments have you had in your career?
[Jennifer Lopez] was the first person that saw me. I was in the U.K. and she sent me an email asking me to do her hair for her Vegas tour. So I deleted the email because I was like, well, obviously this is fake. Then they sent me another one and I was like, “Wow, maybe this could actually happen.”
When I was sitting in the chair, she said, “Oh, I’ve had my eye on you for a while.” I thought, “How does JLo have her eye on me? I’m just this guy from Middle England.”
It was the time where social media had started and I just started posting my work and obviously people look. She said, I knew you were the right man for the job. I remember just being like, wow, the power of social media, the power of a brand.
Who haven’t you styled that you would love to?
Someone that I’ve always found amazing was Pamela Anderson.
I saw her recently and I never ever really got that starstruck feeling, but there was something in the child in me that remembered Pamela Anderson and “Baywatch.” I was in this small town and this was Hollywood. She was such a pin-up. She was the girl.
They’re saying 2026 is the new 2016. How have beauty standards changed in the last decade?
They’ve changed dramatically. There is more of a need for people to see real beauty and celebrate that in all forms, which I think is great. I think there is this sort of pressure that we all have of looking and being a certain way. I think my biggest passion is for someone to really be authentic to what their story is, whatever that is. If that means you wanted to wear a lot of makeup and only take pictures in certain lights, that’s you. Or if you want to be makeup-free and own that too – Pamela’s a great example.
That is very powerful, not to be so influenced by trends or actually knowing what’s right for you and owning that and what works for you.
I’m in a place now where I want to inspire people. In working in the pinnacle of the beauty industry, I wanted to scratch away that and say: “This is what it’s really like. And there are days where you feel terrible. There’s more days I’ve felt lost and alone in my life than I have felt fulfilled and whole.” It’s really nice to be able to talk about that.
What hair transformation should everyone try at least once?
Go blond.
Clare Mulroy is USA TODAY’s Books Reporter, where she covers buzzy releases, chats with authors and dives into the culture of reading. Find her on Instagram, subscribe to our weekly Books newsletter or tell her what you’re reading at cmulroy@usatoday.com.