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Zayn Malik
This tattoo fail could’ve turned out much worse. In 2018, Zayn debuted new ink of Gigi Hadid’s eyes. But when the pair broke up a year later, fans started to realize that having your ex staring at you whenever you look in the mirror is not ideal. Fortunately, the two got back together and are now parents to their 8-month-old daughter Khai, which makes this tattoo only slightly better.
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Ariana Grande
The “Positions” singer got absolutely roasted in 2019 when she shared a photo of a hand tattoo that she thought said “7 Rings.” However, her Japanese-speaking fans quickly humbled her when they revealed that it actually translated to — wait for it — “barbecue grill.” Ariana attempted to fix the error but wound up making it worse. After adding a character, the tattoo translated to “Japanese BBQ finger.” Yikes.
Zac Efron
Around 2012, we saw the rise of “YOLO,” thanks to Drake’s song “The Motto.” The acronym means “you only live once,” but perhaps Zac took things a bit too far when he got those four letters permanently tattooed on his hand. These days, “YOLO” has faded into the abyss alongside other slang terms.
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Amanda Seyfried
In 2018, Amanda set the record straight on Late Night With Seth Meyers about the “minge” tattoo on her foot. “It’s a term of endearment, and in England, it means ‘vagina,’” she said, adding that she and her Mamma Mia! co-stars Rachel McDowall and Ashley Lilley all got the same one. “But in the U.S., which is where I spend most of my time, it just doesn’t mean anything. So we commemorated our friendship with ‘minge’ tattoos.”
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Ryan Gosling
No, the tattoo on The Notebook star’s forearm is not a cactus. “One of my tattoos is supposed to be a monster’s hand dropping a bloody heart, but I did it myself with a tattoo kit, so it looks like a cactus,” the actor explained. Word to the wise: At-home tattoos are seldom a good idea.
Nicole Richie
We know what you’re thinking: Who on Earth would get a tattoo of the word “virgin?” Nicole Richie, that’s who. In 2014, Nicole explained the “embarrassing” and “desperate” tattoo to E! News. “I am a Virgo so when I was 16 I thought, ‘Ooh I’m going to be different and I’m going to put virgin, because the Virgin is the sign for Virgo,” she said.
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Johnny Depp
Celebs love getting tattoos in honor of their significant others. Unfortunately, those relationships don’t always last. After his split from Amber Heard, who he nicknamed “Slim,” he had the tattoos across his knuckles changed to “Scum.” Prior to that, he also altered the “Winona Forever” tattoo on his arm to “Wino Forever” following his split from Winona Ryder. Why didn’t he learn the first time?
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Jennifer Lawrence
You can blame J.Law’s “H20” tattoo on her Hunger Games co-star Liam Hemsworth. When she was hanging out with the actor’s family, she cracked under pressure and got inked. “Everybody was getting tattoos,” she told HitFix in 2015, so she got the chemical symbol for water on her right hand. Unfortunately, the “2” was placed in the wrong location. “I should have Googled it before I got it tattooed on my body forever,” she admitted.
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Machine Gun Kelly
MGK has a lot of tattoos, but none look as painful as the one he recently got on his neck. The red line that extends from his chin to his collar looks more like an incision than a new tattoo and the musician knows it. “Bye bye neck,” he captioned the photo on Instagram. Ouch.