Some of us may have a habit of holding celebrities to a higher power, but really, they make some pretty questionable choices in the same way that the rest of us do — including getting tattoos that they later regret. As a result, many stars have been open about the less-than-stellar ink that they're now tasked with getting removed [1]. American comedian, Pete Davidson, for example, recently gave fans an update on his decision to have his extensive — and we do mean extensive — collection of tattoos removed [2].
"I get my next treatment in like a month or so," he told People [3]. "They said by the time I'm 30, they should all be gone. So they got like two more years left of this." According to Body Art Guru [4], Davidson has over 100 tattoos, most of which are tributes to past relationships [5] and people who have inspired him (like that tattoo of Hillary Clinton).
Of course, while Pete Davidson's tattoo removal journey is one of the most recent ones that has sent fans into a frenzy, he definitely isn't the only famous person to have a tattoo (or two) removed. From Khloé Kardashian to Sarah Hyland, read ahead to see a few other celebrities who sat through the pain of tattoo removal — and spoke candidly about the process along the way.
Khloé Kardashian
Back in 2017, the reality star and Good American founder shared a series of Snapchat videos showing herself in the process of removing a lower-back tattoo [6] she got in honour of her late father, Robert Kardashian. According to ET, Kardashian got the tattoo when she was 16, and it features the word "daddy" in cursive with a cross and angel wings.
Megan Fox
Back in 2012, Fox spoke briefly about the painful process [7] of having several of her tattoos [8] removed. "Your skin sort of explodes and looks like little kernels of popcorn popping up," she said while speaking with then-Tonight Show host, Jay Leno [9]. "They can't numb it enough to make the pain go away."
The first tattoo that the actress decided to remove was a portrait of Marilyn Monroe on her inner forearm since she frequently had to cover it up for different acting jobs.
"I was stubborn and I thought that I would love it forever, or that it would be like a book of my life, all the things that I loved when I was younger," Fox said of her tattoos. "And it's not that at all."
Angelina Jolie
During the brief period of time that she was married to Billy Bob Thornton [10], Angelina Jolie [11] got a tattoo of the actor's first name above a dragon on her shoulder. To the surprise of no one, she had the ink removed when the two divorced in 1999.
Heidi Klum
In 2008, the model had her then-husband Seal's name tattooed of her right forearm. The couple divorced in 2013, and Klum has since had the tattoo removed [12].
Sarah Hyland
Back in 2019, Hyland shared a video to her Instagram Stories [13] as she was getting a butt tattoo [14] removed. The tattoo in question was that of a dinosaur that the Modern Family had gotten two years prior.
Eva Longoria
The Desperate Housewives alum once had the number nine written out in bubble letters on the back of her neck, a nod to her ex-husband Tony Parker's baseball jersey number. Additionally, Longoria also had their wedding date and Parker's initials tattooed, though she had all three of them removed [15] when the two divorced in 2010.
Pharrell Williams
The rapper and producer took extraordinary measures to remove a few of his tattoos. In 2008, Williams had a skin graft — a surgical procedure that involves transplanting healthy skin from one part of the body to another — in addition to getting laser treatment for his arm tattoos.
Adrienne Bailon
Early Keeping Up With the Kardashians fans may be able to remember when the former Cheetah Girl got Rob Kardashian's — who she dated from 2007 to 2009 — full name tattooed on her butt. Bailon had the tattoo removed in the years after their relationship ended.
Kelly Osbourne
In 2010, Kelly Osbourne revealed that she'd be having the majority of the 15 tattoos she had at the time removed, citing some of them simply had no deeper meaning [16]. "I was miserable and I just went and got all these tattoos and I don't know why," she said. "One of them is a keyboard and I don't even know how to play a piano!"
The star added: "As you get older, you realise that you don't want to be defined by your tattoos, because that's not the type of person that I am."
That was 10 years ago, but Osbourne isn't quite done with the removal process yet. Last year, she shared an Instagram gallery [17] showing the process of her getting two of the tattoos removed: the aforementioned piano and the word "lovely" written in cursive.
"Who else knows how bad this hurts," the caption reads. "It's 1000000000000 times worse then getting the tattoo!!!"
Pete Davidson
Last year during a virtual Q&A he attended with the cast of The King of Staten Island, the actor revealed that he was in the process of having his tattoos removed [18] since, according to a tweet shared by a viewer, "it takes 3-4 hours in the makeup chair to cover them, so he figured 'it would be easier to get them burned off.'"