Who Is Justin Anderson? Everything To Know About Kristin Cavallari's Hairstylist And BFF (And His Biological Son)
He recently reconnected with his adopted son.
E! / YouTube Since the premiere of Kristin Cavallari's show, Very Cavallari, in July 2018, fans of Cavallari have loved having her back on the small screen.
So much so, in fact, that it was renewed for a second, 10-episode season, and then a third season, which premiered on January 9, 2020. Cavallari announced the end of her show in May 2020 just one month after her divorce from Jay Cutler.
On the show, Kristin got serious about the issues in her marriage to Jay Cutler with her friend/hairstylist Justin Anderson during a sleepover in the show's second season.
And, during the third season, Anderson opened up about the drama surrounding Cavallari and her best friend, Kelly Henderson.
Recently, Anderson revealed that he reconnected with his biological son, who he put up for adoption when he was just a freshman in college, through social media.
Who is Justin Anderson, Kristin Cavallari's hairstylist and BFF?
Read on for all the details about Justin Anderson and his relationship with Kristin Cavallari, as well as details about his newly formed relationship with his son.
He's a hairstylist.
Anderson has been Cavallari's hairstylist and friend for a long time, and has became an even bigger presence on her show during season 3. In fact, he's so close to the reality star that he even moved to Nashville to be closer to her.
While Anderson became a staple on both the show and in Cavallari's life, he's best known for being a celebrity hairstylist — one of the most sought after ones in Hollywood.
He's very active on Instagram.
He has three Instagram accounts: a personal one, a professional one to show off his work, and one just for his podcast, In The Chair, where he interviews his clients.
His clients include everyone from Bachelor Nation stars like Kristina Schulman and Caelynn Miller-Keyes, and A-list celebrities like Jennifer Aniston, Brie Larson, and Miley Cyrus.
He has his own hair brand.
He co-founded the luxury hair color brand, dpHUE, and has styled for magazines like Glamour, SHAPE, ELLE, and Cosmopolitan. He said he got into hair coloring because he was fascinated with how the sun and the sea could transform the color of hair.
"I love seeing my clients light up after their hair is colored and styled," he said in an interview. "I love giving my clients an extra boost of confidence with a fresh new do."
He met Cavallari when she was 18.
Cavallari and Anderson have been friends forever. He originally met her while she was just starting out on MTV's Laguna Beach. Then 18, she came to Anderson to help fix what she described as her "Playboy bunny platinum" hair.
He gave her those signature beachy waves that she has since been known for. They always post cute photos of each other on their respective Instagram accounts alongside adorable captions.
He grew up in California.
Anderson was born and grew up in Southern California, where he lived near the water. He loved to swim and surf, which eventually led to a love for hair.
“I was fascinated with the sun’s effect on hair,” he said in an interview.
“The way that ocean water and the sun naturally lightened hair has always intrigued me. So when I decided to pursue a career in hair color, I apprenticed myself to two of Hollywood’s leading blonde experts, Johnathan Gale of the Serge Normant Salon and Sheri Roman of the Art Luna Salon,” he revealed.
He's also been dubbed the "rising star of blonde Hollywood."
He's engaged to a YouTuber.
Anderson is currently in a relationship YouTuber Austin Rhodes. The couple have been together for a long time and started dating when Rhodes was under 21. Anderson is currently 39.
Rhodes received some criticism early on for dating an older man — and he quickly defended his relationship.
“What works for me and my boyfriend is going to be totally different from what works for somebody else,” he said.
“For anyone to judge from the outside when they don’t know how the two people are with each other. Plus, most people commenting don’t even know that we’ve been together for three years.”
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Despite the initial backlash, Rhodes, whose also known by his nickname "Scoot," and Anderson seem to be as happy as ever. They seem to both love posting cute photos of each other with equally cute captions, judging by their Instagram accounts.
He's weighed in on the drama between Cavallari and Kelly Henderson.
Fans of Cavallari know that the reality star recently had a falling out with her best friend, Kelly Henderson, after she was hurt by Henderson's reaction to the rumors on social media that accused Henderson of having an affair with Cavallari's husband.
Cavallari herself even revealed how upset she was from the falling out, saying, "The biggest change in my personal life is that my best friend Kelly and I haven't talked in two months. We've had a major falling out and it's just been breaking my heart."
However, as Cavallari's other best friend, Anderson has also spoken out on the friendship ending.
"You know, I didn't see any of it coming. And, to be really, really honest, when I first went to Nashville to start filming, I was really excited to spend more time with Kelly. 'Cause, Kelly and I come from a similar work background.
So, when I learned about the drama between Kelly and Kristin, I was super bummed and I immediately told Kristin that I wanted to talk to Kelly and sit down with her and kind of get to the bottom of it."
Anderson also opened up about how it went when he spoke to Henderson about the falling out.
"I was a little bit disappointed. She wasn't willing to see both sides or kind of hear where Kristin's coming from. And, the way I know Kristin... If Kristin says she's upset about something, you really gotta slow down and just listen. She doesn't get upset about something all the time," he said.
In addition, Anderson said that Cavallari "doesn't feed into drama." He added, "I've seen firsthand that Kristin really has opened up and been vulnerable with this situation, and Kelly's just not responding in the same way."
Anderson moved to Nashville to be closer to Cavallari.
As Anderson became a larger part of his best friend's hit reality show, it's only natural that he'd also move to Nashville. Anderson and his boyfriend even moved into Cavallari's old home, and the reality star and her former husband gave them a tour of the city.
She revealed, "With Justin and Scoot, we took them on a Nashville tour and made them do all the kind of authentic Nashville things we do here. We got them some cowboy boots and got them all done up."
Cavallari has also spoken out about how excited she was that Anderson was going to have a bigger role on the show saying, "I, obviously, love Justin so much. He's just a really great friend. And clearly, with all the issues I've been having with Kelly, it was so nice having him here in Nashville a lot."
There have long been rumors of Anderson getting married.
Even though Cavallari's falling out with Henderson has hit her hard, she luckily still has Anderson and Scoot to lean on. The hairstylist and his boyfriend spent a lot of time with Cavallari and Cutler, doing everything from axe throwing to helping Anderson and Scoot look for a new house.
While touring one house together, the question of marriage and kids was brought up, causing fans to wonder if Anderson and Scoot could possibly be engaged.
During the conversation, Anderson said, "We could have kids here." Which caused Scoot to respond with, "Kids? Shouldn't we get married though, before we have kids? You're jumping ahead."
However, Anderson later admitted that he's not traditional and doesn't need to be married to have a commitment with someone.
The happy couple did buy the house, however, and appear to be settling in quite nicely as the home is already furnished.
Anderson and his boyfriend are officially engaged!
It looks like Anderson changed his mind about marriage. On the season 3 finale of the reality show, Anderson asked Scoot to marry him.
Anderson opened up about the proposal, revealing:
"Scoot wanted a quiet engagement. So, that's what I went with: cooked him his favorite meal and we ate dinner at our favorite cozy place in the house by the fire in Nashville.
I know how much it meant to Scoot that his twin brother was there, so I had Aaron and my sister Malia in the garage with Kristin and Jay watching from behind the cameras. He was completely shocked and had no idea it was coming.
So, here I am about to propose to Scoot and all I can hear is people like, clunking around in the garage and I can't take my focus off that. On top of it, I want to cry my eyes out. It's like, 'Oh lord! Is someone gonna mess this up?' Scoot, you know how much I love you and that's all that I think about.
And I've always just wanted to be with one person for the rest of my life and I never thought that I'd find a love like this. You make me so happy, I can't stop thinking about how happy I want to make you. I don't want to spend one day without you and I promise you that I'm gonna spend the rest of my life trying to give you everything that you need. I just want to be with you forever."
And if you're wondering what his answer was, Rhodes said yes! Congrats to the newly engaged couple!
Anderson recently reconnected with his biological son.
On an episode of the podcast, Scissoring Isn't A Thing, Anderson opened up about his biological son.
Anderson revealed that his high school girlfriend got pregnant while he was in college, and since the pair were both from Mormon families and there was "no talk of abortion," they placed their son for adoption.
"So we found this beautiful couple. It was an open adoption," he said. "We had our son Tyler. I was in the hospital room. I’m 18 by the way. We hand our baby over to the family. And I drive back to college by myself and life goes on."
For almost two decades, Anderson didn't have any contact with his biological son, until he got a DM on Instagram one day.
"Three years ago I am sitting on the couch and I get a direct message from my son literally saying hey," Anderson said.
"I go, 'This kid's cute. Why is this kid writing for me?' I write back, 'Hey what’s up?' and he says, 'Do you know who this is?' Boom. So then the whole thing happened," he revealed.
Justin Anderson and his son, Tyler, now spend time together with Tyler's family, adding that they stay in contact through texts, phone calls, and of course, social media.
"My family, his family, we all meet up for dinner. He has the most beautiful, sweetest, kindest family. They raised him so well," Anderson added.
Emily Blackwood is a writer and editor living in California. She covers all things news, pop culture, and true crime.
Editor's Note: This article was originally posted on April 18, 2018 and was updated with the latest information.