Chris strictly is back on screen while the personal history around him keeps drawing attention. Chris Appleton finalised his divorce from Lukas Gage in 2024, after the pair married in Las Vegas in April 2023.
The timeline is short but clear: Appleton initiated divorce proceedings in November 2023, citing irreconcilable differences, and the marriage lasted approximately six months. That places the split inside the same year as the wedding, which is why it keeps surfacing alongside his Strictly Come Dancing 2026 appearance.
Las Vegas in April
April 2023 marked the wedding in Las Vegas, with Kim Kardashian officiating the ceremony. By November 2023, the marriage had already moved into divorce proceedings, and the finalisation in 2024 closed a relationship that never reached a second year. For a public figure whose work depends on visibility, that compressed sequence is the part readers keep returning to.
43-year-old Appleton has also been open about the relationship that came before Lukas Gage. He spent eight years with Katie Katon, began that relationship while they were both employed at Georges Hairdressing in Leicester, and shares two children with her, Billy Appleton and Kitty-blu Appleton.
Katie Katon and Chris Appleton
Appleton said, “Me and Kate got together when I was 19.” He added, “When we broke up when I was 27, it was really dark,” and, “When I came out as gay, she saw me, when I couldn't see myself.” He also said, “She saved me,” a line that sits alongside the harder admission that he felt he had failed his children when he told them.
That contradiction gives the story its weight. Appleton has described the breakup as painful, but also said of Katon, “Having kids and this bond that never left, it never will.” He later reunited with her to mark the Fourth of July in 2025 with their children, and wrote, “So grateful for a weekend with my family, full of laughter, love, and those little moments that stay with you,” followed by “Always everything I need.”
Strictly Come Dancing 2026
The practical takeaway is simple: the divorce is over, the marriage is not a live legal story, and the remaining public interest now sits with how Appleton talks about family, sexuality, and co-parenting while competing in Strictly Come Dancing 2026. The unresolved part is not the paperwork; it is the exact path that led from a six-month marriage back to a family narrative built around Katie Katon and their two children.
