TV personality Kat Von D has shared a huge update on her tattoos after her shock decision to black out her body following a first-of-its-kind lawsuit.
The 43-year-old rose to fame after appearing on LA Ink, a TLC hit that debuted back in 2007, with the reality show running for four seasons and seeing Kat host a number of celebrities at her popular parlour.
However, in 2020, she confirmed that she was planning to cover up all of her tattoos in black ink after becoming 'tired of waking up to them', something which took over 40 hours to complete.
She told Inked Magazine: "I think I had been fed up with a lot of the tattoos I got over the years for a long time.
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"I just couldn't explain how satisfying it was to see all the messes he would clean up with his blackout tattoo work.
"I think at that time I thought I would just black out an arm, but shortly after, I knew I would end up tattooing my whole body."
A lawsuit was also launched against the music artist in 2021 by photographer Jeff Sedlik, who tried to sue her for copyright infringement.
He claimed that Von D had tattooed a version of his 1989 photo of jazz musician Miles Davis on the arm of a friend. Three years later, a jury ruled that Von D was not guilty of copyright.
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Four years on, the celebrity has now shared an update on her tattoos on Instagram, suggesting that she's going to take the next step after initially blacking them out.
She said: "Today is my 18 year sober anniversary, and what better way to celebrate that by getting a bunch of tattoos lasered off at the Removery."
The video then progresses to show her having a neck tattoo of some flowers removed, and while some young children didn't have the kindest words following the removal, it seems as if Von D was happy with the progress.
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That said, tattoo removal - which zaps the skin with lasers to break down the ink into tiny particles - is known to be pretty uncomfortable, often more painful than getting the tattoos themselves.
Someone who knows this more than most is Pete Davidson, whose had many of his 200+ tattoos removed
He described the process as 'horrible', telling Variety: “It’s like putting your arm on a grill and burning off a layer, and then you gotta do maintenance and let it heal properly. And it’s pretty tough. It sucks. I’m not gonna lie."
Sadly, it seems Von D has lost her passion for ink, after confirming she never wants to tattoo anyone again after the stress of the lawsuit.
She said: “I think I don’t want to ever tattoo again, my heart has been crushed through this in different ways."
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Von D also spoke about her relief that the jurors ruled on her side, over fears for the tattoo industry as a whole had she been found guilty of the copyright infringement.
She added: "I’m just so grateful that the jurors took their time and unanimously agreed. I have a feeling setting precedence like that will only help tattooers and other artists in the future.
“I lost weight, I lost hair, and I lost many nights of sleep over it.
“As much as I knew this person didn’t deserve a penny from me, there were times that I wanted to settle just to make it stop.
“But I knew if I didn’t fight, the damage to the tattoo industry and other artists would be so immense, that I couldn’t live with myself.”
James Moorhouse