Original 'Queer Eye' 's Kyan Douglas Announces His Retirement From TV: 'It's Time To Step Away' 

Queer Eye for the Straight Guy's Kyan Douglas is retiring from television.

Douglas, 51, made the bittersweet announcement on Monday's episode of Rachael Ray.

"I am retiring from the television business at last," he told host Rachael Ray. "I just feel ready to move on to something else. I don't know what that is yet, but things come to an end, and the universe will fill a void. It's time to step away and see what's next for me."

The grooming expert credited the show's host for the opportunities she's afforded him in the time since he left Queer Eye.

"I've worked for you for 13 years, and because of you and working on this show, the flexibility that it gave me, the income that it gave me, I was able to spend the last year of my mother's life with her at home," Douglas shared. "You gave that to me, so thank you so much. I'll never forget it."

The star decided to share the emotional news on Rachael Ray because of his close relationship with the cook. "We are your family," Ray said.

Douglas has appeared in more episodes of the Emmy winning daytime talk show —115 to be exact — than of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, the host revealed. She joked that his hair has changed in every appearance he's made.

Later on in the episode, Douglas concluded his television career with one final makeover. A former client, Shannon, returns to the show after her first makeover by Douglas in 2013. She debuted a new, sleek bob and curtain bangs, and got emotional following her second makeover. She said she was "honored" to be Douglas' "grand finale."

"I think that for the generation of kids that grew up watching Queer Eye, that was the first time they could look through the television set in their home and see five gay guys that were just being themselves," Douglas told PEOPLE in 2018 ahead of the Queer Eye reboot.

The Netflix reboot aired its sixth season in December 2021, and will soon begin filming the seventh in New Orleans, Louisiana.