Pete Davidson's tattoo journey has been one for the books. The 31-year-old comedian and actor is currently getting them removed, but it's been a years-long process because he was covered head to toe with them. He infamously got 4 tattoos while dating Kim Kardashian; there is another design he thought of as his most humiliating.
In his recent Hot Ones interview, the soon-to-be father admitted to getting a tattoo because of Dave Chappelle. He was barely 19 or 20, doing stand-up at a small NYC club, when Chappelle, then off the grid, caught his set. "I got off stage, and he was like, 'I watched your whole set. It was really good," he recalled.
Davidson asked him for some advice on how to keep coming up with new material, explaining that it was becoming difficult for him. "And he goes, 'Uh, jokes come and go, but swag is forever,'" Davidson said.
The Staten Island King star was so moved that he tattooed it across his entire chest. “I’ve never admitted this because it’s so humiliating,” he told Sean Evans. “I could’ve just told people he said that to me. Also, I didn’t even credit him. It just looks like I made it up.” He’s since covered it up with a giant Jaws shark, “I needed something huge just to black it out ... horrible."
But that wasn’t his last impulsive ink moment. During his high-profile relationship with Kardashian, Pete had multiple tattoos dedicated to Kim, including “My girl is a lawyer,” the initials of Kim and her kids, and a branding of her name burned into his chest.
Since their breakup, Pete’s been slowly wiping the slate clean, undergoing a long, painful tattoo removal process. One tattoo takes 10 to 12 sessions to get removed, for a total of 60 weeks.
He said it's going to take him another 10 years to finish. "It’s pretty horrible. It’s like putting your arm on a grill and burning off a layer, and then you gotta do maintenance and let it heal properly," the former SNL star told Vogue.
He opened up about his reasoning, saying most of them have roots in when he used to be a drug addict. "I was a sad person, and I felt ugly and that I needed to be covered up,” Davidson told the outlet. “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.’ They should have meaning. Not just that I was high watching Game of Thrones," he continued.