Tattoos are an incredible art form. Humans have been decorating their skin with ink since the dawn of our species — the oldest dating back to 3250BCE, on a man called Ötzi.
So yeah, you could say we’ve been doing this a while.
Tattoos can be anything we want them to be: purely decorative, symbolic, or anything in between.
For these celebrities, however, the ink on their bodies is a little bit more than skin deep.
Ariana Grande
Oh boy. Alright, let’s just get it over with: yeah, Ariana has “BBQ grill” tattooed on her finger. The original tattoo was supposed to say “7 rings” in Japanese, but it just…guys, it just didn’t happen, likely because Ariana didn’t do her research before she got it.
She eventually had the tattoo corrected thanks to her Japanese tutor.
The Rock
The Rock’s first tattoo was that of a bull skull, honoring his nickname of “The Brahma Bull.”
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In 2016, he decided to upgrade his tattoo to a more elaborate—and bigger—piece that now encompasses his entire right shoulder and bicep.
Joe Jonas
Joe Jonas is no stranger to tattoos, or to sharing them on his Instagram. From an incredibly intricate recreation of Salvador Dali’s “Persistence of Memory” to a simple ax, he’s got it all.
In 2018, he and his fianceé, Sophie Turner, got side-by-side Toy Story tattoos on their wrists by the iconic Mr. K.
Uh, couple goals.
Miley Cyrus
Miley Cyrus reportedly has over 30 tattoos, so it’s no surprise that many of them have special meaning to her.
One of her most prominent ones is a portrait of her grandmother (who she calls “Mammie”), which she had done by famous tattoo artist Kat Von D.
Lea Michele
Lea Michele has a number of tattoos. One in particular — a number “5” on her ribcage —holds an important meaning.
Her late boyfriend, Cory Montieth, famously wore a number 5 jersey when they were both co-starring in Glee. She had the 5 inked on her in 2016, and captioned her Instagram post, “for my Quarterback..”
David Beckham
David Beckham is famously absolutely covered in tattoos. One of his most visible tattoos is the name of his wife, Victoria Beckham, on his right hand.
You can also spot the phrase “dream big be unrealistic” on his hand, which is reportedly from Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s “On the Run” tour.
Michael Bublé
Singer and adorable dad Micheal Bublé got his son’s name tattooed on his wrist shortly after his birth.
Noah was diagnosed with liver cancer in 2016.
He went into remission in 2017 and has been cancer-free since then!
Taye Diggs
Prepare for a cute overload. Taye Diggs’ son, Walker, wrote the phrase, “I love daddy,” on a piece of paper.
Diggs loved it so much that he decided to get the whole phrase tattooed on him, in his son’s handwriting. I’m not crying, you are.
Paris Jackson
Paris Jackson is the daughter of music legend and icon, Michael Jackson. She and her godfather, Macaulay Culkin, both have spoons tattooed on their arms.
The spoons represent chronic fatigue, which is best described using the spoon theory.
It posits that you only start out with so many spoons in a day, and you lose them throughout the day as your energy depletes.
Emma Stone
Hey, have you ever had someone famous design a tattoo for you? While the rest of us can only dream of that, Emma Stone made it a reality.
After her mother was declared cancer-free, Emma wrote to Paul McCartney and asked if he’d draw two bird feet for her, which represents she and her mother’s favorite song of The Beatles’, “Blackbird.”
Drew Barrymore
Actress, CEO, and super mom Drew Barrymore has a number of tattoos representing her family. She has three cherubs on her right hip that spell out her mother’s name, Jaid.
More recently, Drew got the words “Olive and Frankie” inked on her wrist to represent her two children.
Robert Downey Jr. (and “The Avengers” Cast)
To commemorate the final part of their journey together, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, and Jeremy Renner all got a stylized version of The Avengers logo tattooed on them after wrapping Avengers: Endgame.
The only OG squad holdout was Mark Ruffalo, who didn’t want a tattoo.
Um, I’ll get matching tattoos with the Avengers if he doesn’t want to.
Ariel Winter
Ariel Winter keeps her tattoos subtle, yet close to her heart. She has the initials for each of her nieces (and nephew) tattooed up her ribcage.
Ariel wrote on Instagram, “They are my inspiration, and my reason for living.” Aw.
Rihanna
If you can dream it, Rihanna has it tattooed on her. She has an abiding love for the art form, quoted as saying, “I am so intrigued by tattoos. It’s an entire culture, and I study it.”
She has her personal motto, “Never a failure, always a lesson,” tattooed on her chest. She had it done backward so that she could see it in the mirror.
Chris Hemsworth
Like many people, Chris Hemsworth has tattoos representing his family. He and his wife, Elsa, both have the letters C, E, I, T, and S in the Runic alphabet tattooed on them.
The letters represent their names, as well as those of their three children: Chris, Elsa, India, Tristan, and Sasha
Kendall Jenner
What do you do when you want a tattoo, but you’re a world-famous model whose job doesn’t really have much room for them?
Well, if you’re Kendall Jenner, you keep it simple. She has a single white dot on the inside of her middle finger, which is about as low-profile as a tattoo gets.
The meaningful part? It’s a matching tat with one of her friends.
The Pretty Little Liars cast
After wrapping the finale episode of the fan-favorite show, the cast of Pretty Little Liars headed to a tattoo parlor and decided to honor their journey.
Each actress got the initial of her character tattooed on her index finger.
Helen Mirren
Bet you didn’t see this one coming. Dame Helen Mirren, queen of everything, absolutely has a tattoo! And it’s not exactly hidden, either, since she got it on her hand.
The symbol of two interlocking triangles reminds her to “love thy neighbor.”
Selena Gomez
Selena Gomez’s tattoo is kind of a big deal. She has “love yourself first” (loosely translated) in Arabic on her ribcage.
The big deal is this: in partner with Coach, the phrase made it onto a bag she took to the Met Gala. Gomez is a brand ambassador and the face of Coach.
Lily Collins
The origin of her tattoo may be a mystery, but what it means to her sure isn’t.
Lily Collins posted this shot of her back tattoo in 2016, in which the phrase “Love always and forever” was added to her existing lily pad tattoo.
I guess the lily pad is an easy one to figure out, huh?
Hilary Duff
Hilary has tattoos for just about everything, and of just about everything. From anchors, to wishbones, to her son’s name, she has it all.
In 2017, Hilary added to her collection. “Take fountain” is a tongue-in-cheek quote from Bette Davis, which she said in response to a question about breaking into Hollywood. Fountain is a street in Los Angeles.
Lady Gaga
Gaga’s brand-new tattoo is a very special one — it’s her name! A tribute to all things music (and the journey that brought her to being nominated for an Oscar), she got the musical notes of G-A-GA tattooed on her arm.
Much love, mother monster. Much love.
Benji Madden
Hey, what would you do if your wife was Cameron Diaz? Would you…get her name tattooed across your chest?
Cameron’s husband, musician Benji Madden, did exactly that. He added to his impressive tattoo collection in 2015 with a bold “Cameron” written under his neck.
Sam Smith
Equality for all: that’s at the heart of Sam Smith’s tattoo. Inked pointedly on his ring finger, the equal sign represents his views on gay marriage.
But the other set of lines? He said they represent tattoos found on one of the oldest bodies ever discovered with tattoos. That man?
Our good friend, Ötzi! Full circle, guys. Full circle.
