Kim Kardashian's sultry black and white photo with mystery man has fans all asking the same question

Kim Kardashian certainly had fans wondering with her latest photo, as she shared a sultry black and white photo from her latest trip.

The billionaire, 43 took to Instagram to share a photo from her "late nite in Italy", where she was spotted embracing a mystery man next to a jukebox. Kim, wearing a revealing black dress, was dancing with a tall man dressed in white, with bleach blonde hair. She laughed in the photo.

The other side of the jukebox, one of Kim's friends similarly sported all black in a more casual T-shirt and trousers combination, with sunglasses. But fans were fascinated by the man, whose face remained shrouded in the photo.

"WHO IS THIS MAN," one of many fans asked in the comments, with another fan asking: "Kim, who's that daddy?"

"Kim, you did not just soft launch a man", someone wrote, adding: "love you for this." Another similarly celebrated Kim's post by saying: "Single and thriving Miss Kimberly."

While fans clearly thought that Kim was soft launching a new man, it appeared that the mystery man was more familiar than most would believe - in fact, he was a close friend of Kim's.

© Instagram / @chrisappleton1

Chris Appleton, Kim's long time friend and hair stylist, commented below: "This was a good trip." If Chris announcing his presence on the trip wasn't enough to convince fans, then it would only take one look at the mystery man's bleach blond crop to see it matches with the hair stylist's own.

© Michael Buckner

Other fans took to the comments to back this up, saying: "It’s obvi @chrisappleton1", and "THIS MAN IS @chrisappleton1 Y’ALL".

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Chris Appleton reached a divorce settlement in June 2024 after his six month marriage to actor Lukas Gage. The duo tied the knot in April 2023 after first being connected in February of that year.

Meanwhile, Kim was previously linked with Odell Beckham Jr, although a number of outlets announced in May that the NFL star and reality TV star had called things off after seven months together. Since then, there has been no inkling that Kim is seeing anyone else .

© Perry Knotts

But Kim has made it perfectly clear that following her divorce from Kanye West in 2022, and relationship with Pete Davidson, she's perfectly happy being single.

"When you're single and all your friends are married, it's like you have desperation on your face and everyone under the sun wants to hook you up with someone," Kim admitted in a confessional during an October 2023 episode of The Kardashians. "I'm genuinely just OK with being by myself for a minute and the right situation will come my way."