Breakups are often messy. While some people like to get a new haircut, join the gym, and party until the sun comes up, others prefer eating pizza and commemorating the moment with a little tattoo.
And when you’re a celebrity, what better way to send a message through a media than a petty Instagram caption, or better yet, some pointed permanent ink? There truly is nothing like celeb tattoos post-breakup.
When Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson broke up following their whirlwind romance in 2018, the two found themselves quickly covering up tattoos they got as a couple. In February, celebrity tattoo artist, Jon Mesa shared a photo of his work on the Saturday Night Live star which in and of itself is a work of comedy.
While all attention was on the Tootsie Pop Owl, further up on Davidson’s neck he had also tattooed the word “CURSED” over where he once had a matching tattoo with Grande that read “Mille Tendress.”
Grande also replaced her couple tattoo, “8418,” the badge number of Davidson’s late father who died on 9/11, with the name “Myron,” a reference to the dog of her late ex-boyfriend Mac Miller.
But today we’re seeing some celebrities fresh off a breakup adding to their list of ink.
As much as tattoo artists hate doing couple tattoos, we wonder how much they love a breakup tattoo?
Some of these celebrity breakup tattoos are classy, while others… not so much. Which ones are you a fan of?
Miley Cyrus
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This is one way to acknowledge your divorce.
When TMZ reported that Liam Hemsworth had filed for divorce in August 2019, Miley Cyrus didn’t say silent. They say a picture says a thousand words, and that very same day celeb tattoo artist, Dr. Woo shared a photo of Miley’s new ink.
A depiction of the Visconti coat of arms, which is best known as the symbol of the city of Milan, Miley showed off the new piece on her forearm.
Is this a nod to her wild and very steamy vacay with Kaitlynn Carter? Or just a way to remember a new direction in her life? Either way, we have to admire the intricate needlework on this piece.
Pete Davidson
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He took this from Ariana to obscure.
One week before officially splitting, it was clear that trouble was brewing between Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson when the Saturday Night Live comic got a tattoo dedicated to his then-fiancée covered up.
Davidson ended up covering up the latex Playboy-inspired bunny mask.
The bunny was a nod to the mask Grande wore on the cover of her album Dangerous Woman. He put a large, opaque, black love heart right over it.
Amber Rose
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If you want to forget about your ex, just replace him!
When model and activist Amber Rose was with rapper Wiz Khalifa, she didn’t just get a quaint couple tattoo–she got his entire face inked on her bicep.
After the two broke up, Rose was faced with a dilemma, but ultimately came up with the perfect solution: replace him with another man. Rose turned the picture of Wiz into the likeness of Slash, the lead guitarist of Guns N’ Roses.
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If you didn’t already know, Rose fangirls over three celebrities: Beyonce, Conan O’Brien, and Slash.
Hopefully, he’ll never let her down.
Kylie Jenner
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Lucky for Kylie, this wasn’t a big change.
Before Kylie Jenner became the first billionaire in the Kardashian clan, she dated rapper, Tyga. While their relationship was contentious, Kylie ignored the naysayers and inked her then-beau’s first initial on her ankle.
Although following their breakup she was quick to cover it up.
A good rule of thumb for tattoos is to commemorate things that will never change, and Kylie decided to change the tiny ‘t’ into ‘la,’ an homage to her hometown.
Kaley Cuoco
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Marriage isn’t as permanent as a tattoo.
And Kaley Cuoco learned this the hard way. When The Big Bang Theory actress got married to former professional tennis player Ryan Sweeting, she marked their big day with a tattoo of their wedding date, December 2013 in roman numerals.
In 2015, following their split, Cuoco posted a photo on Instagram of herself getting the photo covered up. The caption read: “Note to self – do not mark your body with any future wedding dates.”
That isn’t such bad advice.
Angelina Jolie
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Angie scrubbed the last remnants of her wild days away with this motherly cover up.
Do you remember when Angelina Jolie was married to Billy Bob Thornton? Back in 2000, their three-year marriage made headlines for confessions of limousine sex and wearing vials of each other’s blood around their necks, but also Jolie’s tattoo of Billy’s name on her arm.
She found a beautiful way to cover his name, though.
Following their divorce, the actress covered up the ink with coordinates of her children’s birthplaces, which isn’t only beautiful but something we’re sure she’ll never reconsider.
Denise Richards
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The actress was keen to remove any traces of Sheen.
In 2002, Charlie Sheen and Denise Richards pledged their eternal union to one another with tattoos of each other’s names. As you probably know by now, couple tattoos are rarely a good idea, and more often than not a bad omen.
So when this couple broke up in tumultuous circumstances, Denise was quick to cover up her ‘Charlie’ tattoo with something beautiful, new, and transformative— a beautiful fairy.
Nas
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This nude tattoo got a strange makeover.
Nas celebrated his long-term relationship with superstar Kelis with a tattoo, but this one is a little NSFW. The naked portrait of the “Milkshake” singer was stamped on Nas’ arm but was quickly covered up following their divorce in 2010.
But Nas just covered up her face with what looks like a lion’s face, keeping her naked body. Please explain.
Rihanna
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The Barbados superstar took control of the situation on her own terms.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably know why and how Rihanna and Chris Brown’s relationship ended.
While they were together, Riri got a small cluster of stars tattooed on the back of her neck, but instead of covering it up she managed to make the best of a bad situation.
Is there anything she can’t do?
Adding more stars to the original piece, the stars now sprawl from her nape all the way down to her shoulder blade. We stan forever.
Zayn
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The former One Direction member went on a tattoo spree after this breakup.
Gigi Hadid and Zayn Malik wrote the book on on-again-off-again relationships, but when they finally called it quits, Zayn turned to his tattoo artist to get him through it.
The first was a black rose on the back of his neck and while Zayn shared a second photo of him sitting back while a tattoo artist worked on the front of his neck. Ouch!
Jessica Alba
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In 2016, the star revealed her first breakup tattoo on television.
During an interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Jessica Alba revealed she once got a tattoo following a breakup with a well-known star— although she wouldn’t reveal who.
“It’s lotus in Sanskrit. It means the manifestation of spiritual beauty,” she told Colbert.
“He was really anti-tattoos, and I felt like after I broke up with him, I found myself again. It’s unnecessary to talk about this. He’s like a famous actor.”
Soulja Boy
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Remember when Soula Boy dated Blac Chyna? Neither do we.
This brief fling barely made an impression before it was already over. Dating for just a few weeks, Blac Chyna and Soulja Boy were over before they even started, but that didn’t stop the rapper from getting Chyna’s name tattooed on him.
On Valentine’s Day, amidst breakup drama, Soula Boy got ‘Chyna’ tattooed on his arm next to a small red rose.
Keith Urban
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The Australian rocker swapped one lover with another.
Back when Keither Urban was dating model Niki Taylor, they got matching tattoos which read, ‘Amor Vincit Omnia’ which translates to ‘love conquers all’ in Latin.
So when Keith and Nicole Kidman began dating, he was quick to obscure his tattoo with a flame. Is this an ode to their fiery love? Or Nicole’s luscious locks? Either way, we love it.
Marc Anthony
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The couple was married for 10 years, but it didn’t take long for Marc Anthony to remove his dedicated ink.
Sometimes, you need to bite the bullet and remove the entire tattoo.
Then then-Cheetah Girl was very in love with Rob Kardashian, so much so she got his name tattooed on her derriere.
Now happily remarried, The Real talk show host has completely the removed the tattoo, although it took her three rounds of laser removal. If there’s one tattoo your new partner doesn’t want to see on your butt, it’s probably your ex’s name.
