Kat Von D says she's happy to have her 'garbage, drunken tattoos' covered up with new blackout ink
Kat Von D is defending her latest tattoo.
The tattoo artist and former LA Ink star took to Instagram on Tuesday to share a photo of her new ink. Black ink covers nearly her entire leg, save for a single portrait. The work was done by a tattoo artist named Hoode, who operates out of Black Vulture Gallery in Philadelphia, Pa., and specializes in this type of body art.
Von D captioned the post, "I'm so happy with how this blackout tattooing by @hoode215 is coming together! Today we knocked out my entire upper thigh all the way to my butt [which I would share with you guys the entire tattoo, but you know I always like to keep it PG.]"
She added, "Before anyone starts criticizing, I encourage you to remember that it's OK not to like or even understand things. Trust me, I've seen plenty of tattoos I personally would never get. And those differences make this world so much more interesting! So no need to comment any negativity."
The TLC alum, 40, said she absolutely loves her new ink, and that it is "extremely refreshing for me to see all the garbage, drunken tattoos I had scribbled all over my leg that I got before I became sober, be covered by sleekness and simplicity."
Von D's followers loved the new look. One commented on the post, "I'm in love with the blackwork you have! I’m still trying to have my arm finished so I can black out my other arm too! [It] seriously suits you!!!"
Another shared they could relate, writing, "This is EXACTLY why I want to black my arms out. I'm sober and I'm so proud and do not want see those memories anymore."
Von D celebrated 10 years of sobriety in 2017. In 2012, she told Rosie O’Donnell on The Rosie Show that she stopped drinking once she saw how it was impacting her work as a tattoo artist.
"I'm a pretty disciplined person, but I had made a promise to myself that when I started professionally tattooing if there was ever anything that ever was getting in the way of my ability to tattoo that I would cut it out," she said. "When I realized that drinking was getting in the way, I woke up one day and said, 'I don't want to drink anymore,' and it stuck."
She said that while the process was "simple," she had to deal with the fact that friends from her drinking days stopped communicating with her.
"Now, I hang out with people who are on the same frequency," she said at the time.
Von D first shared she was covering up her tattoos with blackout ink in 2019 and defended her choices to cover up old ink, no matter what others thought of the decision.
"Having been in the tattoo industry for the greater part of my life, I've seen countless tattoos of all types of styles — but NEVER have I felt inspired to tell anyone 'that's ugly' or 'you're stupid,'" Von D wrote at the time. "Even though tattoos are an outward expression, they really aren’t for anyone else other than the person wearing it."
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