Pete Davidson has set a decade-long goal to remove the hundreds of tattoos covering his body, revealing that it’s a slow and challenging process. On February 6, during an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers, the Saturday Night Live alum explained that he expects his tattoos to be gone by the time he turns 40. “When I’m 40, it’ll all be gone—like the chest and back,” he said.
Davidson, 31, shared that the tattoo removal process is far from simple, with each tattoo requiring a minimum of seven laser treatment sessions. He clarified that while black-and-white tattoos are easier to remove, color tattoos are far more time-consuming. “If it’s black and white, it’s a little easier, but if it’s a color tattoo, it takes forever,” he noted.
Though many of Davidson’s tattoos are black and gray, he does have some colored ink, which has made the removal process even more difficult. When asked which tattoo he regretted the most, Davidson didn’t hold back. “All of them,” he bluntly admitted.
Davidson elaborated on his regrets, explaining that many of his tattoos were impulsive decisions made before he sought help for his mental health struggles. He recalled some of his more bizarre ink choices, including tattoos of cartoon characters smoking blunts. “I got a collection of cartoons smoking blunts, like a muppet smoking a blunt, the Tootsie Pop owl smoking a blunt,” he shared.
In a previous appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Davidson gave an honest description of the painful tattoo removal process. “They gotta burn off a layer of your skin, and then it has to heal for like six to eight weeks, and you can’t get in the sunlight,” he explained. “Then you gotta do it, like, 12 more times.”
For Davidson, removing his tattoos marks a significant new chapter in his life. He has been open about using tattoos as a coping mechanism during difficult times, particularly to cover self-harm scars. “That’s why I started getting tats on my chest, to cover them,” he said in a 2020 interview with Charlamagne Tha God. “It’s just a release if you can’t get a tattoo. When I’m so manic and upset, sometimes that’s the only thing that will work for me.”
However, Davidson has since adopted healthier coping strategies, such as cold showers and listening to music, as part of his ongoing recovery after rehab.
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