CHRIS APPLETON: Bullies Spat on Me at School. Now I’m Kim Kardashian’s Most Trusted Hair Stylist
Great Company with Jamie Laing
Jampot
4.6 • 951 Ratings
🗓️ 5 May 2026
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Chris Appleton has built a reputation as one of the world’s most trusted celebrity hair stylists. From Kim Kardashian and JLo to Ariana Grande and Christina Aguilera, he’s worked with some of the biggest names in Hollywood.
It’s a world away from his upbringing in Leicester. As a teenager, Chris was bullied at school for working in a local hairdressers and was labelled before he had even begun to understand his own sexuality.
In our conversation, Chris opens up about the abuse he faced from bullies, coming out in his twenties and the difficult period that followed. He tells me about the moment he realised he'd built a career helping other people feel confident - but had never done the same for himself - and how he’s finally learned to accept and love who he is.
In this episode, Chris shares:
- Why he cried after styling JLO’s hair for the Super Bowl
- Being spat on and bullied at school for being different
- How he’s learned to accept himself and love who he is
- Why his marriage to Euphoria star Lukas Gage didn’t work
- The celebrity he wants to style next
Chris is a powerful reminder that the people who seem to have it all figured out are often the ones who've had to fight the hardest to get there.
Chris Appleton is Great Company.
You can get Chris' book, Your Roots Don't Define You here!
This episode contains sensitive topic discussions including suicide. If you or someone you know is affected by anything in this episode and need support, please see the suggested helpline and website links below.
Samaritans - 116 123 - samaritans.org
If you enjoyed the show, you can also follow us:
Instagram- @greatcompanypodcast
TikTok - @greatcompanypodcast
Jamie - @jamielaing
And if you've got thoughts, questions and comments, you can email us at: greatcompany@jampotproductions.co.uk
THE CREDITS
Producer: Helen Burke
Assistant Producer: Issy Weeks-Hankins
Video: Josh Bennett
Senior Social Media Manager: Laura Coughlan
Audio: Rafi Amsili Geovannetti
Executive Producer: Ewan Newbigging-Lister
Great Company is an original podcast from JamPot.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Guys, just before we start, I want to let you know that this episode contains discussions |
| 0:03.6 | around suicide. So please take care whilst listening or watching this. Now, if you or someone |
| 0:09.6 | you know is struggling, support is available. Please see the show notes for more information and links |
| 0:14.8 | to helpful resources. I know so many secrets. It started working with Kim, did Jalo, did Christina, Aguilera, then I think it was like |
| 0:22.9 | Oriana Grande. Is it true that you charge 100,000 for a haircut? This is unbelievable. People relate to your |
| 0:31.6 | hairstyle. It's been a therapist, right? Women, men, they open up. I was really good at making people |
| 0:36.2 | see themselves in the mirror, look at where they're at, where they've come from, and where they could possibly. I was really good at making people see themselves in the mirror, |
| 0:41.1 | look at where they're at, where they've come from, and where they could possibly get to. |
| 0:43.6 | Is there a celebrity, you wouldn't do their hair again? |
| 0:48.9 | Hey, I'm Chris Appleton, and I'm in great company. |
| 0:51.9 | The hairdresser of the year, Chris Appleton. So you got asked to J-Lo's Super Bowl half-time show, right? |
| 0:55.0 | People still stop me in the street now, like J-Lo's Super Bowl hair. It was that huge for me in my career, yeah, it went viral. Kim officiated your marriage. Any party at the time, you're like, what the fuck's going on here? I think everything was overwhelming. I'm in America. I was just going to go with it. job in the hair salon at a young age and I was like 12, 13 at the time. I just got bullet. They said, oh, you're gay because, you know, I did hair. But it was before I really even thought about sexuality. You know, was like, spat on and beating up. So I very quickly kind of thought, well, I'm not gay and I'm not stupid. And I just got really headstrong on wanting to prove people wrong. So you shut down that. |
| 1:28.9 | I think I didn't want to kill myself. I wanted to kill it, whatever that thing was, but being gay. I've done the work. I'm not shamed of anything in my life now. I guess that was one of the moments of looking in the mirror and I just was like, what about if this is just who I am? Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of Great Company. |
| 1:44.8 | Firstly, thank you so much for coming back. |
| 1:47.2 | I'm really excited. is just who I am. Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of Great Company. |
| 1:44.8 | Firstly, thank you so much for coming back. |
| 1:47.1 | I'm really excited for today's episode. |
| 1:49.4 | It's going to be incredible because we have the amazing celebrity hairstylist Chris Appleton |
| 1:53.4 | on the show. |
| 1:54.2 | Now, the Met Gala has just happened, so we thought this was a perfect time to release |
| 1:58.0 | this episode. |
| 1:59.5 | Chris has done so many celebrities hairs from Jalo to |
... |
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