Latest news with #tattooremoval
Yahoo
03-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Woman Goes Viral for Spending 4 Years Removing 30 Tattoos. She Was Shocked at the Results: 'I Feel Free' (Exclusive)
"I truly felt like I was walking around with scars — mainly on my arms, which were hard to hide unless I wore long sleeves," Kayla Stewart tells PEOPLENEED TO KNOW Kayla Stewart went viral in July when she posted a TikTok of her body after spending four years getting 30 tattoos removed from her arms The Californian shared a glimpse of her arms before the process in a separate video She tells PEOPLE that taking the steps to remove them was part of her "healing" that ultimately helped her "reclaim my body and my sense of self"Sometimes to start over, you need to start with a clean slate, and that's what Kayla Stewart has done. The 28-year-old Californian went viral in July when she posted a TikTok of her body after spending four years getting 30 tattoos removed from her arms. The removal process for Stewart began in May 2021, just a few months after she had added 22 new tattoos to the 11 she had already gotten over time. Stewart tells PEOPLE that she got the new tattoos during COVID, a period where she began spending time with a guy she met in Venice, who was a line artist and wanted to get into tattooing. "He was also in recovery from addiction — but not long after we met, he relapsed. I didn't really know how to navigate that situation. I just wanted to help, but I didn't have any experience with addiction, and I'd never been around it before," says Stewart. Reflecting on the situation now, Stewart tells PEOPLE that she can see how "vulnerable" she was and how easily she was "taken advantage of" because of it. "He'd do anything to practice, and I became the person he practiced on," she says, noting that "it's hard to describe the mental and physical toll that took." The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now! The tattoos for Stewart became like "trauma I was carrying on my body," and taking the steps to remove them was part of her "healing" that ultimately helped her "reclaim my body and my sense of self." "Emotionally, I feel free and liberated now that they're gone. I truly felt like I was walking around with scars — mainly on my arms, which were hard to hide unless I wore long sleeves. And I did — almost every day — for my own sanity and to protect them from the sun," she says. Stewart tells PEOPLE that the week after each tattoo removal session "was the most brutal," and recommends those who find themselves in a similar situation to eat a healthy diet, exercise and cut back on alcohol, as the lymphatic system plays a crucial role in tattoo removal by clearing ink particles from the body. "Blown away" by her results, Stewart says that she will "absolutely never" get tattoos again. Following her experience, Stewart underwent eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy, commonly known as EMDR, with one of her targets being the sound of a tattoo gun. "I definitely had an aversion to tattoos in general for about two years. But thanks to the therapy I've been fortunate to do, I can now appreciate and love them — for other people, just not for me," she says. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. As for how people reacted to her tattoo removal, she says, "Everyone's been incredibly supportive and understanding," and that it is nice to see that her results have given other people "hope." Read the original article on People Solve the daily Crossword
Daily Mail
31-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Pete Davidson reveals his biggest tattoo regret after cringe Kim Kardashian lawyer inking
Pete Davidson regrets getting numerous tattoos, as evidenced by the many painful laser tattoo removal sessions he has undergone in recent months. But there's one bit of ink that particularly makes the 31-year-old comedian grimace when he looks back on it. In his July 28 appearance on Hot Ones — the interview show in which guests eat increasingly spicy chicken wings while host Sean Evans quizzes them on their careers — Davidson admitted that a sizable tattoo on his chest that was inspired by a run-in with Dave Chappelle is his biggest source of tattoo-related regret. The ink joined other embarrassing tattoos, including multiple tats inspired by his short-lived romance with Kim Kardashian. 'I've never admitted this because it's so humiliating,' Davidson began. 'But when I was like 20 at a comedy club — it might have been the Knitting Factory when Hannibal Buress used to run it — I did a set. I was like 19 or 20.' Pete — who recently broke his silence about his impending fatherhood — hadn't yet made his Saturday Night Live debut at the time, recalled how his set featured a celebrity guest in the audience: Chappelle. The comedian was in his wilderness period at the time, after he stepped back from his Comedy Central series Chappelle's Show in 2005 due to dissatisfaction over the direction of its delayed third season. According to Pete, his comedy set was likely in 2012 or 2013, and it wasn't until 2014 that Chappelle started making high-profile guest appearances in the lead up to his return to doing major comedy tours and releasing high-profile stand-up specials. 'So seeing him was crazy,' Davidson said. 'He was like, "I watched your whole set. It was really good."' The future SNL star couldn't pass up the opportunity to pick a veteran comedian's brain. 'How do you keep coming up with new stuff? I'm working on new stuff. It's difficult,' he recalled asking Chappelle. Davidson said the Half Baked star replied, 'Jokes come and go, but swag is forever.' Something about the pedestrian statements spoke to Davidson at that moment, and he was inspired enough to add it to his burgeoning tattoo collection. The rising star got the quotation inked high up on his chest, just above one of his nipples, but he didn't bother to include anything indicating that the phrase was said by Chappelle. Davidson explained that friends and fans who saw him shirtless assumed that he had come up with the expression. 'You know, I could have just told people he said that to me,' he admitted. 'I didn't put "dash Chappelle."' His solution, rather than to add credit to the ink, was to simply 'black it out' with an enormous 'Jaws' tattoo featuring a shark inspired by the Great White in Steven Spielberg's 1975 blockbuster. 'I just put a giant shark over it,' he admitted. Although Davidson appears to have felt awkward about seeming to take credit for Chappelle said at the time, the tattoo might have created other problems for him in subsequent years after Chappelle developed a reputation for devoting large portions of his latter-day stand-up shows to jokes that some fans consider to be transphobic. But Davidson's fans will be seeing much less of his Jaws tattoo and the embarrassing ink that it covered, as the comic is now engaged in a lengthy, costly and painful campaign to erase his infamous ink. In October of last year, Pete revealed the extent of the removal sessions so far when he flashed his bare arms, revealing that the ink was significantly faded. In January, People reported that he had already spent at least $200,000 on the procedure. Then, in February, Davidson admitted on Late Night with Seth Meyers that he hopes to have all of his tattoos erased by the time he's 40, which is a doable timeline, as it could take about a decade to remove all of his ink. In April, he delved into why he covered his body with tattoos and why he now wants to clear the slate in an interview with Variety. '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,' Davidson admitted. '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 f***ing drug addict. Like, that's why you have SpongeBob smoking a joint on your back,"' he joked at the time. Davidson described the tattoo removal process as 'horrible' in the profile. 'It's like putting your arm on a grill and burning off a layer,' he explained. 'It sucks, I'm not gonna lie.' Davidson first shared his plans to remove at least some of his tattoos in 2021. At the time, he told Seth Meyers that it was a practical decision, as he wastes multiple hours getting the ink covered with makeup when he's shooting films and TV shows. 'You have to get there three hours earlier to cover all your tattoos, because for some reason, people in movies, they don't have them that much,' he said. He later added more cringey tattoos, including several related to his former girlfriend Kim Kardashian. Among the most embarrassing was the text, 'My girlfriend is a lawyer,' which he had linked above his clavicle. He also had her name inked on his chest and got a tattoo of Disney's Aladdin with Jasmine, a reference to the SNL sketch they starred in together when he was the guest host, which helped spark their romance. Pete will now get a fresh start as he prepares to welcome his first child with his girlfriend, the English-born model and actress Elsie Hewitt. She shared their baby news earlier this month with an Instagram post featuring Davidson lovingly caressing her midriff and a sonogram image showing the fetus.
