While celebrity status often comes with access and special perks, being an A-lister does not exempt you from the time-consuming, expensive, and often painful task of removing tattoos – and in some cases, covering the tattoo with a new design – after one Breakup, a major life event or just a good old change of heart. Despite the drawbacks, it is one of the most worthwhile investments out there, with a 99% rating from RealSelf patients.
Here are 14 celebrities who decided to reverse their ink and share their experiences with the process.
Khloe Kardashian
In 2015, Khloé Kardashian documented the removal of her lower back tattoo with the help of Beverly Hills, California-based doctor Dr. Simon Ourian. At 16, she was given the “tramp stamp” after Sister Kim warned her “not to put a bumper sticker on a Bentley.” “I should have listened to Kim,” Kardashian wrote in the caption. “Bye bumper sticker!!!”
Zoe Kravitz
Actress Zoë Kravitz has taken a more reserved approach to her many tattoos, with many being small, delicate drawings on her hands and arms. But now she's having some of them removed, including the star on her middle finger that she got when she was 18. Her exact reasoning is a little unclear: “I'm like, 'I don't need that on my body,'” she said in an interview.
Tallulah Willis
Actress Tallulah Willis, daughter of Demi Moore and Bruce Willis, thanked laser removal chain LaserAway on Instagram in 2020 for removing the tattoos on her arm. She noted that the process was painful and wrote in the caption, “My arms burn as deep as my ego but it really works.”
Kelly Osbourne
Before she put plastic surgery on her holiday wish list, Kelly Osbourne was a happy recipient of laser tattoo removal and posted several photos and videos of the removal of her wrist and forearm tattoos. “Who else knows how much this hurts??? Then it's 1000000000000 times worse [sic] got the tattoo!!!” she wrote in the caption of the post.
Kat Von D
While tattoo artist-turned-reality star Kat Von D was making a name for herself tattooing celebrities, she eventually began removing some of her own ink through laser tattoo removal, posting a collage of the process on Instagram. “AND SO IT BEGINS! The first round of tattoo removal is in full swing!” she wrote in the caption.
Sarah Hyland
While the Modern Family actress has several tattoos, including an arrow on her back, she shared a close-up photo of the removal experience in an Instagram Story in 2019. In the video, she grimaces and is captioned, “Actual reaction to laser tattoo removal.” (Her laser technician, registered nurse Jamie Sherrill, can be seen in the background wielding the laser.) Although the tattoo in question has not yet been confirmed, the angle suggests that she has removed the tattoo of a dinosaur from her butt ( see the second slide of her Instagram post).
Melanie Griffith
Even if you're on good terms with your ex, you might not want his name on your arm – which explains why the Working Girl actress had her tattoo of her ex-husband Antonio Banderas' name in a heart removed. (You can see it here in a throwback photo she posted.) The couple divorced in 2014 and a year later she was seen with a bandage over the tattoo.
Heidi Klum
Supermodel Heidi Klum wore her heart on her figurative sleeve with the tattoo in the crook of her arm, which had an abstract design that read “Seal” (the name of her then-husband, the singer Seal), followed by four stars each housing the initials of her children . Although she has since removed his name, the stars remain.
Nicole Richie
In the series premiere of @CandidlyNicole, Nicole Richie's web show that premiered in 2013, the reality star guides viewers through counseling to remove their “tramp stamp.” (The tattoo was a large cross on her lower back.) “Shouldn't it be hard for me to anesthetize something?” she asked the dermatologist's assistant, Dr. Will Kirby. Although she ultimately decides against it because the process would be too lengthy, it seems she has since changed her mind.
Mel B
The former “Spice Girl” and “America's Got Talent” judge skipped the lengthy laser treatment and instead had surgery to remove her ex-husband's name tattoo, which originally read: “Stephen, 'til death do us part, my heart belongs to you.” remove. (It was on the side of her abdomen.) “I wanted to remove the tattoo to close the final chapter of a toxic relationship,” Brown said in an interview, alluding to the domestic violence allegations that preceded her divorce.
Pete Davidson
The comedian is known for his dozens of tattoos, some of which he had removed for his newly launched acting career. “I wasn't thinking [directors] would get myself into things,” he said in an interview with Seth Meyers; He had to be on set three hours in advance just to cover it up. “Burning them is worse than getting them. Not only do they burn your skin off, but you’re wearing these big goggles,” he says. “If you’re going to get a tattoo, make sure you really want it.”
Eva Longoria
Eva Longoria decided to remove two tattoos, one on her lower back and one on the inside of her wrist, in 2016 and documented the process on Instagram. The removal on the inside of the wrist hurt the most, she noted in the video, which then panned to the remnant of a star tattoo at that spot. “Why is there such delayed pain?” she wondered aloud as the laser flashed, concluding with the age-old lesson that removal hurts more than the actual tattoo.
Megan Fox
The actress previously had a large portrait of Marilyn Monroe tattooed on the inside of her forearm – and the removal process was laborious, she said. “Your skin explodes and looks like little kernels of popcorn popping up,” Fox said in an interview with Jay Leno, calling it traumatic and incredibly painful. “You can't numb it enough to make the pain go away.” (This may be why she had her tattoo of her ex-husband's name covered over instead of lasering it off.)
Jessica Alba
The actress is no stranger to tattoos: She has a bow on her lower back and three tattoos, each with a star sign of her children, on her left arm. But there's one particular tattoo she doesn't like – and even though it's faded, it's still dimly visible on the back of her neck. “I got it when I was about 17 and I'm so irritated that I got it,” she said in an interview. “I’ve had it lasered many times and it won’t come out.”
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