17 Celebrity Tattoos and Exactly What They Mean
There's always a story when it comes to ink.
Tattoos are a big part of today's culture, and stars are not exempt. From hidden script to highly-visible art, take a peek at some of Hollywood's ink—and what it all means.
Sophie Turner
Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner got a tattoo of the letter "G" on her pinky finger in honor of her grandfather.
Amanda Seyfried
During an appearance on Late Night With Seth Meyers, Seyfried explained the meaning behind her foot tattoo, which says "minge."
"It’s a term of endearment and in England it means vagina but in the U.S., where I spend most of my time, it doesn’t mean anything,” she said. “We commemorated our friendship with ‘minge’ tattoos.”
Brooklyn Beckham
Brooklyn Beckham revealed this heartwarming tribute on Instagram, featuring the numbers "0 2 0 5 1 1." The design is by tattoo artist Mr. K., who also posted the photo and revealed that the numbers represent the birth dates of each of Beckham's three siblings (Romeo, September 1, 2002; Cruz, February 20, 2005; Harper, July 10, 2011).
Miley Cyrus
Miley Cyrus posted an Instagram of her new tattoo and explained its meaning in the caption: "Vegan for life! 💚."
Justin Bieber
Justin Bieber got a new tattoo on his leg that says "Better At 70." He explained the ink's meaning in an Instagram caption. "I look back at a lot of things in my life, mistakes, insecurities, and although I have felt I've wasted a lot of time it also makes me want to be better faster! For me personally I want to work everyday to be BETTER AT 70," he wrote.
Miley Cyrus
The meaning behind Miley's latest piece of ink isn't hard to decipher. The 24-year-old got a new tattoo on her foot as a tribute to one of the most important men in her life—her dad, Billy Ray Cyrus. Billy Ray showed the tattoo off with pride on Twitter.
Kylie Jenner
The super famous 18-year-old showed off her newest ink from celebrity artist Bang Bang on Instagram: the phonetic spelling of "sanity" in red ink on her right hip. The tattoo matches her other red ink—a heart above her elbow, also by Bang Bang. She also has an unidentified tat on her left hip...perhaps, "insanity?" The jury is out.
Sam Smith
Sam Smith recently got not one, not two, but FOUR new tattoos—all with significant meaning. The first, an equality sign inked on his wedding ring finger (shown) is "pretty self explanatory. It shows my views on gay marriage and equality for all." The second, a symbol on the inside of his finger, shows one of the first tattoos documented—found on a mummy "found buried alone in the ice." The third, script on his arm that says "honesty" is what Smith promises to be in his music. And the fourth? "Alone" on his other arm. "This is just me being a melancholy twat haha. I do see it as a small positive thou... No longer lonely... Just alone..."
Kendall Jenner
The model received possibly the smallest tattoo known to man on her hand—a tiny white dot. The meaning? As tattoo artist JonBoy (who did the ink) told Refinery29, "To her, it's the little things that matter. And the white color was because she didn't want it to show with modeling and all that."
Selena Gomez
The songstress got one of her newest tattoos in Arabic, which roughly translates to "love yourself first."
Miley Cyrus
Miley Cyrus got her first tattoo at 17—script of "Just Breathe" below her breast—as a tribute to her friend Vanessa who had died of lung disease and both of her grandfathers, who had died of lung cancer."It reminds me not to take things for granted. I mean breathing—that was something none of them could do, the most basic thing. And I put it near my heart, because that is where they will always be," she told Harper's Bazaar.
Emma Stone
Emma Stone shares a special bond with her mom–and Paul McCartney. To celebrate her mother being cancer-free, Emma and her mother marked the occasion with tattoos that pay tribute to their favorite song, Beatles' "Blackbird"...which were designed by Paul McCartney himself. Yes, really. The actress wrote a letter to the singer and "Blackbird" lyricist asking for a drawing of birds' feet to tattoo, and he responded by sending over the drawings. "Custom tattoos by Paul McCartney. Isn't that wild?" she told Us Weekly. "He's a good guy."
Vanessa Hudgens
The actress got her first tattoo when she was 22—a butterfly on the back of her neck. "It was very last minute, but I've actually wanted it for years," she told Letterman. "A butterfly landed on my mum's stomach a week before I was born and that's how I got my name, because Vanessa means butterfly—it's a Latin derivative."
Lady Gaga
One of the singer's most striking pieces is this arm tattoo, which features a German quote from Letters to a Young Poet written by Rainer Maria Rilke, along with the date 12/18/1974, which commemorates her aunt who died before she was born, but who she feels a deep connection to.
The tattoo speaks to solitude, which Gaga says as an artist you have to embrace. Translated, it reads: "In the deepest hour of the night; Confess to yourself that you would die if you were forbidden to write; And look deep into your heart where it spreads its roots, the answer; and ask yourself, must I write?"
Cara Delevingne
The model/actress/can-doer loves tattoos—including this one, script of her initials (Cara Jocelyn Delevingne) inked by Bang Bang NYC.
Angelina Jolie
Angelina is, famously, no stranger to tattoos, but her arm tattoo is possibly the cutest. It has all the coordinates of her children's birth places, along with Brad Pitt's. Awww.
Rihanna
RiRi had 1988, the year she was born, inked on her right ankle by Bang Bang, because of course.
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