Hollywood’s rich and famous have an inclination for tattoos. Some of them hide the results, some show them off, and others don’t really have a choice as they just keep packing them on until hiding them is no longer an option.
David Beckham has close to 100 pieces. In his case, no matter how many there are or, in other cases, how silly or senseless they may appear, every design has a meaning—or so they say.
Then some are honest, who have long since given up saying they have no regrets about their tattoos – like Miley Cyrus – and admit wishing they had never started.
Here are 30 such cases, with some of the usual suspects, and others you would never have imagined with permanent ink.
#21 Billie Eilish
Style outlet Byrdie reports that Bad Guy singer Billie Eilish has five tattoos, though for years she pretended she had zero.
Among them: a dragon that slithers up from her right thigh onto her stomach, proving that subtlety has never been her aesthetic.
Come to think of it, Billie once vowed never to let fans see any of her tattoos.
But vows are made to be broken, aren’t they?
She shattered that promise in the most glamorous way possible: A 2021 Vogue photoshoot where she showed them off like she had never sworn secrecy.
Another piece she eventually unveiled is a delicately inked fairy on her left hand, which she told Vanity Fair was inspired by her favorite childhood book, Fairyopolis.
“They’re like my little guardian angel fairies,” she said in 2021.
By 2023, Billie had fully abandoned tattoo modesty and posted a photo of herself mid-ink session.
Lying on her stomach, her entire spine was exposed, sporting a bold piece that ran from her neck to her beltline.
So much for privacy.
And then there are the cursive words “hard” and “soft” near her navel.
“I’m a pretty extremist person… I want two things at once. So I thought that was a really good way to describe me, and I love that it’s not possible,” she told Rolling Stone in April 2024.
One of her most personal designs is a simple ribcage piece that reads: “Eilish.” Minimalist? Sure, but the meaning is not.
“I love myself,” she declared in way of an explanation.
Among them: a dragon that slithers up from her right thigh onto her stomach, proving that subtlety has never been her aesthetic.
Come to think of it, Billie once vowed never to let fans see any of her tattoos.
But vows are made to be broken, aren’t they?
She shattered that promise in the most glamorous way possible: A 2021 Vogue photoshoot where she showed them off like she had never sworn secrecy.
Another piece she eventually unveiled is a delicately inked fairy on her left hand, which she told Vanity Fair was inspired by her favorite childhood book, Fairyopolis.
“They’re like my little guardian angel fairies,” she said in 2021.
By 2023, Billie had fully abandoned tattoo modesty and posted a photo of herself mid-ink session.
Lying on her stomach, her entire spine was exposed, sporting a bold piece that ran from her neck to her beltline.
So much for privacy.
And then there are the cursive words “hard” and “soft” near her navel.
“I’m a pretty extremist person… I want two things at once. So I thought that was a really good way to describe me, and I love that it’s not possible,” she told Rolling Stone in April 2024.
One of her most personal designs is a simple ribcage piece that reads: “Eilish.” Minimalist? Sure, but the meaning is not.
“I love myself,” she declared in way of an explanation.
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2points
#22 Rihanna
Rihanna, according to People, has more than 25 tattoos—most of them attesting to North African history and spiritual themes.
The 18th dynasty Egyptian icon of beauty, Nefertiti, sits on her ribcage. Isis, the goddess of magic, motherhood, and fertility from the same culture, spreads across her diaphragm, and a falcon rests neatly on her ankle.
Her body also bears Arabic, Tibetan, and English mantras. Then, in a nod to the streets and to the man who bridged them with music, she carries a tribute to Tupac Shakur’s Thug Life.
On the opposite side, things get edgier: the tiny silhouette of a handgun, which she reportedly dragged her tattoo artist out of bed in the middle of the night for (hopefully not at gunpoint).
Her feet tell their own story. Behind her left heel, she sports a skull-and-bones-with-a-bow—in line with Kelly Osbourne’s playful rebellion, and trailing down her back is a constellation of stars that cascade like cosmic jewelry.
Rihanna has also collected a personalized Māori symbol in New Zealand, a henna-styled design on her right hand, and more.
And for anyone tempted to critique, she has the final word on the inside of her right index finger; a simple design that reads—“Shhh…”
The 18th dynasty Egyptian icon of beauty, Nefertiti, sits on her ribcage. Isis, the goddess of magic, motherhood, and fertility from the same culture, spreads across her diaphragm, and a falcon rests neatly on her ankle.
Her body also bears Arabic, Tibetan, and English mantras. Then, in a nod to the streets and to the man who bridged them with music, she carries a tribute to Tupac Shakur’s Thug Life.
On the opposite side, things get edgier: the tiny silhouette of a handgun, which she reportedly dragged her tattoo artist out of bed in the middle of the night for (hopefully not at gunpoint).
Her feet tell their own story. Behind her left heel, she sports a skull-and-bones-with-a-bow—in line with Kelly Osbourne’s playful rebellion, and trailing down her back is a constellation of stars that cascade like cosmic jewelry.
Rihanna has also collected a personalized Māori symbol in New Zealand, a henna-styled design on her right hand, and more.
And for anyone tempted to critique, she has the final word on the inside of her right index finger; a simple design that reads—“Shhh…”
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1point
#23 Chris Evans
“I really like tattoos, but the problem is, when you wear a short-sleeve shirt in a movie, that’s an extra hour in the makeup chair. It’s not worth it,” Chris Evans told Hot Hits in a 2024 interview.
“I’m all for tattoos, but just somewhere they can be hidden.” And so, the ink designs keep a low profile on the Marvel star’s body.
The man has an eagle on his chest which he says is in memoriam for a friend. Hints by celeb artist, Josh Lord, suggest the actor got the piece in 2016.
Then he has a quote by spiritual mentor Eckhart Tolle which reads:
“When you lose touch with your inner stillness, you lose touch with yourself, when you lose touch with yourself, you lose yourself in the world.”
“I really like Eckhart Tolle,” Evans defended the choice.
An animal lover, Evans adopted a dog named Dodger and then got the dog’s name tatted on his chest.
Speaking on Jimmy Kimmel Live! three years later, he described the relationship between him and his hound as the “purest” in his life.
On Evans’ left shoulder, he shows off a taurus tattoo. He told USA Today in 2004 that it was a tribute to his mother, Lisa Capuano, who was born on May 21.
On his right shoulder, he had the Chinese symbol for family. Speaking to Glamour in 2012, he suggested that the figure summed up his entire ink theme.
Then, in 2016, the cursive word “loyalty” became exposed thanks to his provocative Gucci campaign with Evan Rachel Wood.
“They’re pretty much all for family,” he told Glamour previously. Then, according to a 2020 Page Six report, Evans had the Chinese symbol on his right shoulder removed.
The familial sentiment remains near and dear, as can be seen from the “SCS” piece on his right ankle, which became unclothed on the set of A Many Splintered Thing in 2012.
Evans says the letters stand for Scott, Carly, and Shanna, who are his siblings, per People.
The Marvel star’s Avengers emblem is perhaps a testimony to another kind of family, as he, Scarlet Johansson, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, and their tattoo artist all have the design.
“I’m all for tattoos, but just somewhere they can be hidden.” And so, the ink designs keep a low profile on the Marvel star’s body.
The man has an eagle on his chest which he says is in memoriam for a friend. Hints by celeb artist, Josh Lord, suggest the actor got the piece in 2016.
Then he has a quote by spiritual mentor Eckhart Tolle which reads:
“When you lose touch with your inner stillness, you lose touch with yourself, when you lose touch with yourself, you lose yourself in the world.”
“I really like Eckhart Tolle,” Evans defended the choice.
An animal lover, Evans adopted a dog named Dodger and then got the dog’s name tatted on his chest.
Speaking on Jimmy Kimmel Live! three years later, he described the relationship between him and his hound as the “purest” in his life.
On Evans’ left shoulder, he shows off a taurus tattoo. He told USA Today in 2004 that it was a tribute to his mother, Lisa Capuano, who was born on May 21.
On his right shoulder, he had the Chinese symbol for family. Speaking to Glamour in 2012, he suggested that the figure summed up his entire ink theme.
Then, in 2016, the cursive word “loyalty” became exposed thanks to his provocative Gucci campaign with Evan Rachel Wood.
“They’re pretty much all for family,” he told Glamour previously. Then, according to a 2020 Page Six report, Evans had the Chinese symbol on his right shoulder removed.
The familial sentiment remains near and dear, as can be seen from the “SCS” piece on his right ankle, which became unclothed on the set of A Many Splintered Thing in 2012.
Evans says the letters stand for Scott, Carly, and Shanna, who are his siblings, per People.
The Marvel star’s Avengers emblem is perhaps a testimony to another kind of family, as he, Scarlet Johansson, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, and their tattoo artist all have the design.
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1point
#24 Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga’s 24 tattoos caught Cosmopolitan’s attention. Especially the “giant spine tattoo”, a “tribute to the House of Gucci,” and the cherub at the back of her hairline.
Her left shoulder blade is a collage of seemingly unrelated stamps, including one with a heart and the word “dad,” a bouquet of daisies, a flock of swallows, and a long-nailed hand bearing a string of beads, not to mention a design that could represent a lotus of some kind.
Below the same arm, on her upper ribcage, the songstress has the words “mother monster,” which may or may not be related to the claw on her left shoulder blade, which has since been described as a “monster hand.”
On the arm itself, in the region of the inner bicep, she completes her fascination with monsters with the words “little monsters.” According to Cosmo, she is referring to her fans with this phrase.
Right above the latter is the German script by Austrian poet and novelist Rainer Maria Rilke.
When translated, it reads: “In the deepest hour of the night, confess to yourself that you would [expire] if you were forbidden to write. And look deep into your heart where it spreads its roots, the answer, and ask yourself, must I write?”
In the middle of this text is the date her aunt Joanne Stefani Germanotta succumbed to lupus (12-18-1974).
Tellingly, the singer’s fifth studio album, released in 2016, is named Joanne, and the name is tattooed inside her left elbow.
The heart tattoo on her left shoulder, which bears the word “dad,” is a tribute to her father’s open-heart surgery.
Other designs on the singer include an image of David Bowie on the left side of her ribcage, along with an anchor.
Also on her left shoulder blade is a tribute to her survival of an indecent assault, and then flowing down and across her back is the depiction of a massive black moth.
The moth was inked in time for the 2020 Grammys but was missing two years later when she debuted a rose and stalk running down her spine.
Lady Gaga has a few tributes to her career too, which include a treble clef on her lower back (reportedly her first tattoo ever), and a musical staff with the letters G-A-G-A.
On her right bicep is a trumpet, and on the side of her left arm lies the word “Art Pop.”
Lest we forget, the unicorn high on her left thigh and the peace symbol on her right wrist.
All in all, Cosmo counted 24—and this was in July 2024.
Her left shoulder blade is a collage of seemingly unrelated stamps, including one with a heart and the word “dad,” a bouquet of daisies, a flock of swallows, and a long-nailed hand bearing a string of beads, not to mention a design that could represent a lotus of some kind.
Below the same arm, on her upper ribcage, the songstress has the words “mother monster,” which may or may not be related to the claw on her left shoulder blade, which has since been described as a “monster hand.”
On the arm itself, in the region of the inner bicep, she completes her fascination with monsters with the words “little monsters.” According to Cosmo, she is referring to her fans with this phrase.
Right above the latter is the German script by Austrian poet and novelist Rainer Maria Rilke.
When translated, it reads: “In the deepest hour of the night, confess to yourself that you would [expire] if you were forbidden to write. And look deep into your heart where it spreads its roots, the answer, and ask yourself, must I write?”
In the middle of this text is the date her aunt Joanne Stefani Germanotta succumbed to lupus (12-18-1974).
Tellingly, the singer’s fifth studio album, released in 2016, is named Joanne, and the name is tattooed inside her left elbow.
The heart tattoo on her left shoulder, which bears the word “dad,” is a tribute to her father’s open-heart surgery.
Other designs on the singer include an image of David Bowie on the left side of her ribcage, along with an anchor.
Also on her left shoulder blade is a tribute to her survival of an indecent assault, and then flowing down and across her back is the depiction of a massive black moth.
The moth was inked in time for the 2020 Grammys but was missing two years later when she debuted a rose and stalk running down her spine.
Lady Gaga has a few tributes to her career too, which include a treble clef on her lower back (reportedly her first tattoo ever), and a musical staff with the letters G-A-G-A.
On her right bicep is a trumpet, and on the side of her left arm lies the word “Art Pop.”
Lest we forget, the unicorn high on her left thigh and the peace symbol on her right wrist.
All in all, Cosmo counted 24—and this was in July 2024.
1point
#25 Jwoww
Jenni ‘JWoww’ Farley from Jersey Shore debuted her art at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards.
Thirty at the time, she showed off an impressive, colorful compilation of Disney characters.
But her take on the fuzzy fantasy brand’s stars was nothing if not dark.
“I took my four favorite Disney love stories and flipped them so they are more rooted in reality,” claimed the then 30-year-old.
“So with Ariel and Eric, Eric is looking away like he wants nothing to do with her, and Ariel is looking at him with desperate puppy eyes,” she elaborated.
“For Beauty and the Beast, he is a real beast. Sleeping Beauty overdosed and is [deceased]. Her prince is crying over her because he knows that he pushed her to that limit,” her explanation continued.
“And Cinderella’s prince is beating her. To me, that is the reality of relationships, they are crazy and take hard work — not that happily ever after bulls**t,” per US Weekly.
We’re not entirely sure if JWoww was seeing anyone at the time. You know… Like a life coach, psychiatrist, or maybe even an exorcist…
Thirty at the time, she showed off an impressive, colorful compilation of Disney characters.
But her take on the fuzzy fantasy brand’s stars was nothing if not dark.
“I took my four favorite Disney love stories and flipped them so they are more rooted in reality,” claimed the then 30-year-old.
“So with Ariel and Eric, Eric is looking away like he wants nothing to do with her, and Ariel is looking at him with desperate puppy eyes,” she elaborated.
“For Beauty and the Beast, he is a real beast. Sleeping Beauty overdosed and is [deceased]. Her prince is crying over her because he knows that he pushed her to that limit,” her explanation continued.
“And Cinderella’s prince is beating her. To me, that is the reality of relationships, they are crazy and take hard work — not that happily ever after bulls**t,” per US Weekly.
We’re not entirely sure if JWoww was seeing anyone at the time. You know… Like a life coach, psychiatrist, or maybe even an exorcist…
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0points
#26 Justin Theroux
Justin Theroux loves animals, particularly his two rescue dogs.
In an interview with Jonathan Van Ness at the 2018 New York Vulture Festival, he explained how that love influenced his most significant piece.
“So I had two dogs, both rescues, pitbulls, pitbull mix, and when they [passed away], I dedicated half my back to one and half of my back to the other,” he told Van Ness.
But Justin, that is a rat!?
He had a preplanned explanation for this, too.
“So, it’s a picture of a rat, because my dog used to kill rats in Washington Square Park, which is not fun. It was horrible,” he said.
“She was really good at it. I mean, it’s doing a service to New York also.
“Oh, and then a pigeon. A New York pigeon and a rat.”
Justin, are you sure it was not the pigeons and the rats that were your pets?
The latter is one of Theroux’s many undocumented and unexplained tattoos, another of which reads “Never Never Again.”
In an interview with Jonathan Van Ness at the 2018 New York Vulture Festival, he explained how that love influenced his most significant piece.
“So I had two dogs, both rescues, pitbulls, pitbull mix, and when they [passed away], I dedicated half my back to one and half of my back to the other,” he told Van Ness.
But Justin, that is a rat!?
He had a preplanned explanation for this, too.
“So, it’s a picture of a rat, because my dog used to kill rats in Washington Square Park, which is not fun. It was horrible,” he said.
“She was really good at it. I mean, it’s doing a service to New York also.
“Oh, and then a pigeon. A New York pigeon and a rat.”
Justin, are you sure it was not the pigeons and the rats that were your pets?
The latter is one of Theroux’s many undocumented and unexplained tattoos, another of which reads “Never Never Again.”
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#27 Britney Spears
Once upon a time, Hollywood’s heartthrob, Britney Spears, had nine known tattoos, including the Hebrew script on her neck—ink she got while overseas, said to be tied to the Kabbalah faith and translates to mean “healing.”
She also has two designs that have been spotted peeking over her bikini line: one, reportedly, a starburst with no outline, and the other a Chinese symbol.
Testifying to but not fully embracing the era when the tramp stamp was all the rage, hers is a delicate fairy positioned just above her beltline.
On her left foot is a butterfly with vines—so small that photographers had to zoom in until the image became distorted.
Then there are the red lips below her right wrist, the dice on the inside of her arm, and the triangle on the same hand.
She also has two designs that have been spotted peeking over her bikini line: one, reportedly, a starburst with no outline, and the other a Chinese symbol.
Testifying to but not fully embracing the era when the tramp stamp was all the rage, hers is a delicate fairy positioned just above her beltline.
On her left foot is a butterfly with vines—so small that photographers had to zoom in until the image became distorted.
Then there are the red lips below her right wrist, the dice on the inside of her arm, and the triangle on the same hand.
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0points
#28 Carson Daly
The world got the lowdown on MTV’s TRL host Carson Daly’s hidden art when he revealed it on TODAY back in 2014.
“This one is for my son,” he explained, pointing to a customized playing card. Another was for his father and grandfather, while a fourth simply read “NYC”—which he claimed was in memory of 9/11.
His stepdad didn’t escape the needle either: Daly swapped out the whiskey brand Cutty Sark for “Curly Sark” as a nod to his stepdad’s nickname…and because nothing says family like honoring Dad’s drink order.
In true equal-opportunity fashion, Daly added his niece Jaden Patricia’s name, noting that “Patricia” was also his mother’s handle.
But then came the cardinal misstep: Inking a girlfriend’s name.
When said relationship tanked, Daly gave his tattoo artist free rein on a cover-up solution.
Daly recalled the conversation, saying, “Later, when I finally looked at my leg, I asked him what it was. He said, ‘It’s a crab claw coming out of a pocket knife,’” Daly recalled.
To be fair, it does look like “a crab claw coming out of a clasp knife”—if you squint and look very quickly.
“This one is for my son,” he explained, pointing to a customized playing card. Another was for his father and grandfather, while a fourth simply read “NYC”—which he claimed was in memory of 9/11.
His stepdad didn’t escape the needle either: Daly swapped out the whiskey brand Cutty Sark for “Curly Sark” as a nod to his stepdad’s nickname…and because nothing says family like honoring Dad’s drink order.
In true equal-opportunity fashion, Daly added his niece Jaden Patricia’s name, noting that “Patricia” was also his mother’s handle.
But then came the cardinal misstep: Inking a girlfriend’s name.
When said relationship tanked, Daly gave his tattoo artist free rein on a cover-up solution.
Daly recalled the conversation, saying, “Later, when I finally looked at my leg, I asked him what it was. He said, ‘It’s a crab claw coming out of a pocket knife,’” Daly recalled.
To be fair, it does look like “a crab claw coming out of a clasp knife”—if you squint and look very quickly.
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-1point
#29 Ben Affleck
Ben Affleck’s back is covered by one enormous, colorful phoenix.
It was first spotted in 2015, but when questioned about it by Extra TV’s Mario Lopez, the Argo actor fibbed, saying it was a temporary piece for a movie role.
In 2018, he’d dropped the act, telling Ellen DeGeneres: “It’s not something that I sort of kept private.
“It wasn’t like I was doing photoshoots or whatever — we were two hours north of the city on an island in Hawaii, and we didn’t know the paparazzi were there. So they got a picture of my tattoo.”
Affleck got the marriage jinx, too.
Back when he and Jennifer Lopez were still an item, they both got two downward-pointing arrows crossing at the center with the letters “B” for Ben and “J” for Jennifer.
J’LO is said to have gotten rid of hers.
On Affleck’s left shoulder, he sports a cross that’s since been given a floral background. It was first spotted in the 2003 film Gigli when he acted alongside his now ex-wife J-Lo.
On his right shoulder, he bears a circular, dreamcatcher-like design. His best explanation for this to date is as he once told People, “I was young.”
“It was fun and cool. I’m sorry now, but it is a good lesson in decisions that have important and long repercussions.”
Judging by the size of that phoenix, some lessons take up a lot of real estate.
It was first spotted in 2015, but when questioned about it by Extra TV’s Mario Lopez, the Argo actor fibbed, saying it was a temporary piece for a movie role.
In 2018, he’d dropped the act, telling Ellen DeGeneres: “It’s not something that I sort of kept private.
“It wasn’t like I was doing photoshoots or whatever — we were two hours north of the city on an island in Hawaii, and we didn’t know the paparazzi were there. So they got a picture of my tattoo.”
Affleck got the marriage jinx, too.
Back when he and Jennifer Lopez were still an item, they both got two downward-pointing arrows crossing at the center with the letters “B” for Ben and “J” for Jennifer.
J’LO is said to have gotten rid of hers.
On Affleck’s left shoulder, he sports a cross that’s since been given a floral background. It was first spotted in the 2003 film Gigli when he acted alongside his now ex-wife J-Lo.
On his right shoulder, he bears a circular, dreamcatcher-like design. His best explanation for this to date is as he once told People, “I was young.”
“It was fun and cool. I’m sorry now, but it is a good lesson in decisions that have important and long repercussions.”
Judging by the size of that phoenix, some lessons take up a lot of real estate.
-1point
#30 Kelly Osbourne
It appears those privy to Kelly Osbourne’s skin-deep secrets stopped counting at 19, and the designs they checked off were things like a teardrop on her finger, a heart on her knuckles, and a star on her neck.
She also has tributes to her late father, her brother Jack, her mother, and even the unrelated American multi-hyphenate, Joan Rivers.
While not fully committing to the get-your-boyfriend’s-name-inked trend that seems to jinx relationships, she got dangerously close when she and Bert McCracken and the two went for matching heart tattoos.
In line with the unwritten rules of inking, they split a year later. He broke up with her on Valentine’s Day.
Her most questionable tattoos? Apparently, the two skull-and-bones depictions on her feet; one with a lightning bolt, the other with a bow.
Even her mother, Sharon Osbourne, went ballistic when she saw it and wanted to know if Kelly was a pirate before banning her from getting any more.
These days, Kelly admits to regretting most of her ink and has already started lasering one with the word “lovely” off.
“I have found myself saying ‘no pain no gain’ or ‘pain is beauty!’ However the bigger lesson I have taken away from this horrendously painful experience is THINK BEFORE YOU INK!…” she confessed in a blog post (via Closer).
She also has tributes to her late father, her brother Jack, her mother, and even the unrelated American multi-hyphenate, Joan Rivers.
While not fully committing to the get-your-boyfriend’s-name-inked trend that seems to jinx relationships, she got dangerously close when she and Bert McCracken and the two went for matching heart tattoos.
In line with the unwritten rules of inking, they split a year later. He broke up with her on Valentine’s Day.
Her most questionable tattoos? Apparently, the two skull-and-bones depictions on her feet; one with a lightning bolt, the other with a bow.
Even her mother, Sharon Osbourne, went ballistic when she saw it and wanted to know if Kelly was a pirate before banning her from getting any more.
These days, Kelly admits to regretting most of her ink and has already started lasering one with the word “lovely” off.
“I have found myself saying ‘no pain no gain’ or ‘pain is beauty!’ However the bigger lesson I have taken away from this horrendously painful experience is THINK BEFORE YOU INK!…” she confessed in a blog post (via Closer).
Report
-2points
