Celebrity hairstylist and reality star Elgin Charles has come out bisexual.

Charles, 58, discusses his sexuality in his memoir, By the Way, and in an interview with LGBT glossy The Advocate.

Known as the “Emperor of Hair,” Charles owns and operates Elgin Charles Salon in Beverly Hills, the subject of VH1's Beverly Hills Fabulous reality series. The network broadcast a 10-episode season in 2011.

In speaking with The Advocate, Charles said that his father's death two years ago nudged him to speak publicly about his sexuality.

“I've been living in fear – and especially with my dad,” Charles said. “I [always] said that when he passes, I'm just going to write a book and really just put out there everything that I've done in my life. I think it can be helpful for other people, and definitely helpful for me.”

Charles said that when he first arrived in Los Angeles in 1980s from Texas, he dated men and women, but returned to the closet in the early 90s.

“Things started changing. The AIDS epidemic came out. People were dying. A lot of the hairdressers that I've worked with all passed away. It became so devastating that I hid, and I went back in. I said, I feel condemned as a Christian. No one really knew what I was doing because I kept it hidden. I was very much on the DL [down low],” Charles said.

Being bisexual is “nothing to be ashamed of,” he added. “The bisexual man is out there, and he's willing to hold his head up high and discuss it.”