Warning - This article contains topics some readers may find distressing
A woman who claims her face was tattooed against her will is finally getting the inking removed thanks to the kindness of a stranger.
Taylor White, from Florida, says she was just 21 years old and was dating a boyfriend who she alleges became increasingly abusive.
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On her 21st birthday, she set out for a night on the town, but she claims her partner had other, more sadistic plans. Along with a group of his friends, Taylor says they got her drunk and then lured her back to a hotel.
While her memory of the night is hazy, she says she woke up in the empty hotel room in severe pain and believes she was assaulted.
To make matters worse, Taylor says she looked in the mirror to discover her face had been covered in tattoos of 'really horrible things'.
The former tattooist tried to cover the inkings with concealer and it was only when her boss noticed them peeking out from her makeup that she realised she couldn’t go on living like this.
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“He said, ‘You you can’t live like this,’” she told the New York Post, explaining how he’d offered to cover the unwanted body art in blackout ink so she could have a ‘normal life’.
Despite accepting his offer in 2008, Taylor was constantly rejected for jobs - until a TikTok creator offered to help her.
Even more amazingly, TikToker TheDadBot stumbled on to her livestream by mistake.
Having heard her story and watched her videos about her bipolar disorder, the creator - whose real name is Karridy Askenasy - felt compelled to help Taylor.
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“The trouble she was facing obviously had a personal effect on her,” he said in an interview with The New York Post.
Karridy added: “It was preventing her from doing the most good possible.”
He even offered to cover the cost of the tattoo removal and reached out to multiple clinics for help with the laser surgery.
Amazingly, a laser tattoo-removal company called Removery said that they would complete the removal for free - something that would usually cost thousands of dollars.
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Carmen VanderHeiden Brodie, who is the VP of Clinical Operations at Removery, said it could take Taylor up to two years to be tattoo-free but that she was ‘smiling’ through her first session.
However, this hasn’t phased Taylor, as she now hopes to work in the mental health care after the removal.
The now 37-year-old said: “I’m not having it removed purely for cosmetic reasons.
“This is really removing a part of me that I no longer represent or live in.”
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article and wish to speak to someone in confidence, contact The Survivor’s Trust for free on 08088 010 818, or through their website thesurvivorstrust.org.
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If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article and wish to speak to someone in confidence, call Refuge’s National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247 or visit their website here. In an emergency always dial 999.
Katherine Sidnell