While celebrity status can often come with access and special perks, being an A-lister doesn’t grant you an exemption from the time-consuming, expensive, and often painful process of tattoo removal—and in some cases, tattoo cover-up with a new design—following a breakup, a major life event, or just a good, old change of heart. Despite the drawbacks, it’s one of the most worthwhile investments out there, with a 99% Worth It Rating among RealSelf patients.
With that, here are 14 celebrities who’ve chosen to undo their ink and share their experiences with the process.
Khloé Kardashian
Back in 2015, Khloé Kardashian documented the removal of her lower-back tattoo with the help of Beverly Hills, California–based physician Dr. Simon Ourian. She’d gotten the “tramp stamp” at 16 years old, after a warning from sister Kim that “you don’t put a bumper sticker on a Bentley.” “I should’ve listened to Kim,” Kardashian wrote in the caption. “Bye-bye bumper sticker!!!”
Zoë Kravitz
Actress Zoë Kravitz has taken a more understated approach to her many tattoos, with many being small, delicate drawings on her hands and arms. But she’s now having a few of them removed, including the star on her middle finger she got when she was 18. Her exact reasoning is a little hazy: “I’m like, ‘I don’t need this on my body,’” she said in an interview.
Tallulah Willis
Actress Tallulah Willis, daughter of Demi Moore and Bruce Willis, took to Instagram in 2020 to thank laser removal chain LaserAway for removing the tattoos on her arm. She noted that the process was painful, noting in the caption that “my arms are burning as deep as my ego, but it really does work.”
Kelly Osbourne
Before she was adding plastic surgery to her holiday wishlist, Kelly Osbourne was a happy laser tattoo removal recipient, posting several photos and videos of the removal of her wrist and forearm tattoos. “Who else knows how bad this hurts??? It’s 1000000000000 times worse then [sic] getting the tattoo!!!” she wrote in the caption of the post.
Kat Von D
While tattoo artist turned reality star Kat Von D made a name for herself tattooing celebrities, she eventually began erasing some of her own ink via laser tattoo removal, posting a collage of the process to Instagram. “AND SO IT BEGINS! First round of tattoo removal well underway!” 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 of the removal experience back in 2019 in an Instagram Story. In the video, she’s grimacing alongside the caption “Actual reaction to some laser tattoo removal.” (Her laser tech, registered nurse Jamie Sherrill, can be seen in the background, wielding the laser.) While the tattoo in question has yet to be confirmed, the angle makes it likely that she 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 their name on your arm—which explains why the Working Girl actress had her tattoo of ex-husband Antonio Banderas’s name in a heart removed. (You can view it here in a throwback photo she posted.) The couple divorced in 2014, and she was spotted with a bandage over the tattoo the year after.
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 spelling out “Seal” (the name of her then husband, the singer Seal) followed by four stars, each of which houses their children’s initials. While she’s since removed his name, the stars remain.
Nicole Richie
On the series premiere of @CandidlyNicole, Nicole Richie’s web show that debuted in 2013, the reality star walks viewers through a consultation for getting her “tramp stamp” removed. (The tattoo was a large cross on her lower back.) “Don’t I need to be shot up with numbing something?” she asked the assistant to dermatologist Dr. Will Kirby. While she ultimately decides not to do it, citing how lengthy the process would be, it appears that she’s since had a change of heart.
Mel B
The former Spice Girl and America’s Got Talent judge skipped the lengthy lasering session and instead had her ex-husband’s name tattoo, which originally said “Stephen, till death do us part you own my heart,” surgically removed. (It was down the length of the side of her abdomen.) “I wanted the tattoo removed to help close the final chapter on a toxic relationship,” Brown said in an interview, alluding to the allegations of domestic abuse that preceded their divorce.
Pete Davidson
The comedian is known for his dozens of tattoos, some of which he’s removed for his newfound acting career. “I didn’t think [directors] would put me in stuff,” he said in an interview with Seth Meyers; he’d have to be on set three hours in advance just to cover them up. “Burning them off is worse than getting them. Not only are they burning off your skin, but you’re wearing these big goggles,” he says. “If you’re gonna get tattoos, make sure you really want them.”
Eva Longoria
Eva Longoria opted to remove two tattoos, one on her lower back and another on her inner wrist, in 2016, documenting the process on Instagram. The removal on the inner wrist is what hurt the most, she noted in the video, which then panned to the remainder of a star tattoo in that spot. “Why is there such delayed pain?” she wondered aloud as the laser flashed, concluding with the age-old lesson that the removal hurts more than the actual tattoo.
Megan Fox
The actress previously had a large portrait of Marilyn Monroe inked on her inner forearm—and the removal process was intense, she said. “Your skin sort of explodes and looks like little kernels of popcorn popping up,” Fox said in an interview with Jay Leno, calling it traumatic and incredibly painful. “They can’t numb it enough to make the pain go away.” (That might be why she had her tattoo of her ex-husband’s name covered up instead of lasered off.)
Jessica Alba
The actress is no stranger to tattoos, with a bow on her lower back and three tattoos, each with one of her kids’ zodiac signs, on her left arm. But there’s a particular tat that she doesn’t love—and while it’s faded, it’s still vaguely visible on the back of her neck. “I got it when I was, like, 17, and I’m so irritated that I got it,” she said in an interview. “I got it lasered many times, and it’s not coming out.”
