12 celebrities who have had tattoos removed
Including a few who have even let fans watch
Tattoos are forever, at least that's what our parents or needle-shy friends would say every time we floated an exciting small tattoo idea by them or swooned over a new body art on one of our fave inked celebs. But in reality, tattoos have become less permanent than we once thought, thanks to *expensive* laser tattoo removal procedures.
It definitely comes at a pricey sum and can require a mighty pain threshold too - some say it hurts more than getting a tattoo - so we wouldn't recommend relying on it as an easy, quick reverse if you end up disliking your tatt later down the line. But it is cool to know that the option is there and that certain celebrities, like many of us, have grown tired of certain inky decisions across the years. After all, styles come and go, trends fade, and we are all prone to changing our minds, no matter how set on a look we once were.
Check out these celebs who have made the choice to remove some or all of their tattoos, whether it's due to a change in their lives or their minds, or to make space for a fresh new design in its place.
Megan Fox - Celebrities who have had tattoos removed
If you look reaallly hard, you can see the fading of Megan's famous Marilyn Monroe tattoo portrait from her forearm - which she got when she was 18 - on red carpet and TV appearances during the time of removal. She reportedly told Italian magazine Amica she no longer wanted to attract the negative energy she believed the tattoo brought.
Pamela Anderson - Celebrities who have had tattoos removed
![los angeles, ca january 10 pamela anderson arrives at the 4th annual sean penn friends help haiti home gala benefit at the montage hotel on january 10, 2015 in los angeles, california photo by jerod harriswireimage](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/gettyimages-461317650-1636729439.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top "4th Annual Sean Penn & Friends "Help Haiti Home" Gala Benefit For J/P HRO - Arrivals")
Pammy's barbed wire tattoo is legendary and recently popped up on Kendall Jenner when she dressed up as the Baywatch babe for Halloween last year, as well as Lily James who will be playing Pam in the upcoming series about her and Tommy Lee. However, Pamela decided to remove the wired ink back in 2014 and it is now completely vanished from her arm.
Pete Davidson - Celebrities who have had tattoos removed
Pete reportedly announced on a virtual Q&A in December 2020 that he's already started the process of getting all of his ink removed. Known for sporting a whole host of body art, Pete has said the long hours spent in hair and makeup to have them covered up for filming has confirmed the decision to get rid, motivated by a little extra time in bed in the mornings. We're totally behind that reasoning š“
Zoƫ Kravitz - Celebrities who have had tattoos removed
![paris, france november 08 karl glusman and zoe kravitz attend fantastic beasts the crimes of grindelwald world premiere at ugc cine cite bercy on november 8, 2018 in paris, france photo by marc piaseckigc images](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/gettyimages-1059322780.jpg?crop=0.741xw:0.742xh;0.259xw,0.207xh ""Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald" World Premiere At UCG Bercy In Paris")
Zoƫ has an array of intricate and dainty tatts which cover her arms, hands and neck, and has spoken about their addictive nature, telling InStyle that once you're into it, it's hard to stop. Though it doesn't sound like she's slowing down, she did mention having a few removed, including the Arabic letters on her shoulder. What was still visible of the tattoo was eventually covered up with a new dragonfly design by celebrity tattoo artist, Dr Woo.
Angelina Jolie - Celebrities who have had tattoos removed
Angelina's dragon tattoo on her arm used to have ex-husband Billy Bob Thornton's name displayed above until she had the name removed following their divorce. The tattoo has since been fully removed and is now replaced with a loving tribute to her children, showing each of their birth dates.
Rose McGowan - Celebrities who have had tattoos removed
Rose has never really gone into much detail about her pin-up girl tattoo, or why she subsequently had it removed, but you can see the large tattoo on her shoulder slowly disappear at red carpet events. By 2007 it was almost completely gone.
Pharrell Williams - Celebrities who have had tattoos removed
Pharrell began his mission to remove all his tattoos back in 2008, saying how he felt like he'd outgrown his extensive tatt collection. "I got fire on my arms, I'm a grown-ass man", he told British Vogue, while also likening the process to getting a skin graft. Ouch.
Heidi Klum - Celebrities who have had tattoos removed
Heidi's tattoo on her arm was originally a dedication to then-husband Seal, with an abstract pattern resembling his name, and stars containing the initials of their children. After their divorce, Heidi had Seal's name removed but kept the stars for her children.
Nicole Richie - Celebrities who have had tattoos removed
As part of Nicole's 2013 AOL web series #CandidlyNicole she dedicated the first episode to the removal of her lower back tattoo of a cross, which she referred to as a "butt crack cross". In the ep, the star discusses the procedure with a nurse at the tattoo removal clinic.
Eva Longoria - Celebrities who have had tattoos removed
Eva let fans sit in on her tattoo removal experience, albeit virtually. She took to Instagram during the removal of the star design on her wrist in 2016, to show her followers the realities of how it works (and hurts) allowing people to see what a laser treatment session is really like.
Kelly Osbourne - Celebrities who have had tattoos removed
Like Eva, Kelly let her fans join her tattoo removal journey. She had two tattoos on her wrist - one of script that read "Lovely" and the other of a colourful keyboard - both removed in 2020 and then documented on Instagram, with Kelly saying the experience was "1000000000000 worse than getting the tattoo". Eep!
Sarah Hyland - Celebrities who have had tattoos removed
Back in 2019, Sarah Hyland let us get up close and personal while she underwent laser removal treatment for a cheeky tattoo of a dinosaur on her bum, posting videos of her real-time grimacing reactions on Instagram Stories. FYI, it looked pretty painful, and we're grateful to Sarah for sharing the BTS experience with her.
Sophie Leen is the Bookings Editor for Cosmopolitan UK and Women's Health UK. She specialises in creating fashion and shopping content across both digital and print platforms, as well as producing all of our fashion editorial photoshoots, which have included our digital cover with Olly Alexander and our curve influencerās letter to the high street story. Sophie also looks after our Try Before You Train franchise where our team have tested and reviewed over 100 gymwear items.
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