Pete Davidson gives ‘brutal’ update on $200,000 tattoo removal as he reveals side effects of process
Pete Davidson’s ‘brutal’ tattoo removal process still has around eight years to go.
The comedian, 32, began laser removal in 2020 when he had around 200 tattoos.
By 2025, he said he spent around $200,000 – and was only 30% finished.
This week, E! News asked Davidson for an update at the How to Rob a Bank premiere alongside co-star and rumoured James Bond candidate Nicholas Hoult.
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“It’s pretty brutal,” he told the outlet, before joking: “But you never know, they might come back. I’ve only been wearing sweaters for like six months, so you don’t know what’s going on.”
Davidson then repeated that the process was truly ‘brutal’.
Last year, the Saturday Night Live alum told Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show that his tattoos were ‘almost gone’.
"They gotta burn off a layer of your skin and then it has to heal for, like, six to eight weeks and you can't get in the sunlight," he explained.
"And then you gotta do it, like, 12 more times."
In 2021, Davidson told Seth Meyers that the decision was partly due to his acting career.
"I didn't think that they would put me in stuff (in) the movie business or anything. I thought after this, SNL, I thought it was a wrap," he said.
However, Davidson admitted that the turning point was looking in the mirror after getting sober ‘and I was like nah’.
“I used to be a drug addict and I was a sad person, and I felt ugly and that I needed to be covered up. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with tattoos, but mine, when I look at them, I remember a sad person that was very unsure,” he said to Variety in 2025.
“So I’m just removing them and starting fresh, because that’s what I think works best for me and for my brain.”
“When I look in the mirror, I don’t want the reminder of ‘Oh yeah, you were a ******* drug addict. Like, that’s why you have SpongeBob smoking a joint on your back,’” he added.
“They should have meaning. Not just that I was high watching Game of Thrones.”
Davidson told PEOPLE he’ll probably be 40 by the time all of his tattoos are removed.
"It takes years to get rid of a tattoo. You've got to burn it off, and it takes 10 to 12 sessions per tattoo," he explained. "So I have to cram that in between work, and you then need six weeks to heal. Anytime I get one session done, I can't do anything. So it's going to be, like, until I'm 40 when I'm a clean slate."
Topics: Pete Davidson, Celebrity
Anish Vij
