Melanie Griffith walked the red carpet with makeup covering up her famous forearm tattoo that bears her husband Antonio Banderas’ name. The two announced that they would split earlier this month. She’s now getting the tattoo removed, at least according to the Daily Mail, which published photos of the star leaving a Los Angeles tattoo removal office on Thursday.
Getting rid of ink is serious business: the best way is to laser it off, which apparently feels like you’re being burned. Plenty of celebs have removed tattoos they later regretted, including Pharrell, 50 Cent and Megan Fox. Mark Wahlberg even took his children with him to get his tattoos removed in order to scare them out of making the same mistake.
But removing a tattoo with a lover’s name is more than just physically painful: it must be emotionally wrenching as well. Luckily for Griffith, she’s in good company. Here are six other celebrities who have had to remove permanent ink post-breakup.
Angelia Jolie
After divorcing Billy Bob Thornton in 2003, Angelina Jolie had her forearm tattoo of his name removed. She has replaced it with the longitudes and latitudes of her six children’s birthplaces.
Eva Longoria
Eva Longoria had her ex-husband Tony Parker’s basketball jersey number lasered off after she split with the Spurs’ point guard in 2011.
Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp is perhaps the greatest example of how to rework a tattoo post-breakup. Once upon a time, Depp had “Winona Forever” tattooed on his arm while dating Winona Rider. The relationship didn’t last, so Depp artfully amended the tattoo to read “Wino Forever.”
Heidi Klum
Model and reality show host Heidi Klum removed the name of her former husband Seal from her arm last year, according to People. The tattoo consisted of singer Seal’s name followed by three stars with their three children’s initials in them. Klum filed for divorce in April 2012 after seven years of marriage.
Marc Anthony
Marc Anthony removed Jennifer Lopez’s name from his wrist before he even filed for divorce, according to the Hollywood Reporter. He has since replaced the tattoo with a picture of the Statue of Liberty and his girlfriend Shannon De Lima’s name.
Denise Richards
Denise Richards replaced her ankle tattoo of Charlie Sheen’s name with a picture of a fairy after the two split. Sheen also got his tattoo of the name “Denise” removed from his wrist.
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