Comedian gets tattoo in honour of 15 men she’s slept with and their mums
A woman who inked the names of her former flames mothers on her body has revealed their reactions - or lack thereof.
Harriet Richardson, who has a career in comedy as well as performance art, permanently tattooed a 15-strong list of females down her ribcage for a very interesting reason.
Some people keep a list in their phone, hope their friends are helping keep count or rely solely on their hazy memories to chronicle their love lives, but she opted for a much more unorthodox method.
Richardson, who hails from Manchester, has more than a dozen women's names tattooed in chronological order to document her intimate liaisons with their sons.
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These 15 monikers sit in a 22cm vertical line between her right breast, which is a location she chose as it perfectly 'matched the intimacy of the subject matter'.
The idea of inking these matriarchs on her skin was born from her personal decision to commit to carrying one of her performance art pieces 'for life', which resulted in her 2025 project titled 'Temporary'.
In a Substack explaining her reasoning, Richardson wrote: "[The tattoo] will outlast any relationship I’ve had, or will have, which feels like a natural progression for my practice."
She chose to tattoo the mothers' names as she believed there is 'something subversive in placing a sacred name, the one most men protect and hold apart from all other women, onto a body they’d consider temporary'.
"It unsettles the binary they create between the 'permanent' woman in their life and the disposable one(s)," the artist went on. "That being said, it isn’t about revenge; it’s about memory, responsibility, and consequence."
Richardson said she often felt closer to these women rather than their offspring who she was sharing a bed with, as they share the 'strange, intimate knowledge of who he becomes behind closed doors'.
Why she opted to ink the mums rather than the sons
"Only we have been expected to put up with behaviours or actions others wouldn’t," she said. "In so many of my relationships, our roles - girlfriend or mother - have overlapped. Temporary is an ode to that."
The stand-up star relied on both her memory and diary entries to recollect the monikers of the men's mums, but didn't mind hiring a private investigator to confirm the names of a couple that had slipped her mind.
Vicky, Dawn, Linda, Diane, Claire, Marina, Fran, Julie, Lucie and Gillian are among those who earned a spot on Richardson's skin.
Speaking to Metro, the performance artist said that she 'deeply' didn't want their sons names on her body, but didn't mind honouring the women who brought them into the world.
"They were more sort of pivotal or poignant to me than any of the men were because I actually think that woman’s had a pretty similar experience to me," she said.
She discussed how she felt as though a lot of the men who she was romantically involved with seemingly wanted to try and 'erase' their experiences afterwards.
Richardson said: "They wanted it to have not happened, or were embarrassed, or whatever the thing is.
"The tattoo is a way of being like: 'No, you can’t just do that and then never speak to me again'. I mean, you can, but it doesn’t mean that it didn’t happen."
She's well aware of the conflicting opinions social media users have about Temporary and how her work would be presented in media - with Richardson revealing one of the first things she does is weigh up the likely headlines.
The way her story is summed up in a few words is 'so hard to not bite at' for the general public in her eyes, but she takes it all in her stride.
The reactions that Richardson's tattoo has received
Richardson says she's aware that Temporary is a 'provocative' piece, noting that was her entire intention - and it's sparked exactly what she wanted, a 'deep reaction to a piece of art'.
Unfortunately though, she says that the men who inspired her to ink an everlasting reminder of their encounters on her body - which she dubbed her 'most sacred possession' - haven't offered her any feedback.
Although you'd expect them to have quite a colourful response, Richardson told Metro: "The thing about dating avoidant men, is it’s very unlikely they’re ever going to react."
In her Substack, she explained that she did not pre-warn any of the fellas about her plan, before adding: "I like the idea that they might stumble across it one day while stalking my page, as I have theirs, on some random Tuesday night. And equally, I like the idea that they never will. That uncertainty is part of the work. It’s not about dragging them back into my life; it’s about what permanence means to me."
Richardson explained that Temporary is an 'ongoing' piece, so she will update the list on her ribcage each time she adds another notch to her bedpost.
Topics: Sex and Relationships, Art, Parenting, Viral
Olivia Burke