I've been obsessed with celebrity tattoos lately. They're inescapable. I've seen clients walk into tattoo studios brandishing CD covers, wrestling magazines, and Perez Hilton print-outs. Online tattoo forums flame over whether it's cool to get Bam Magera's body art. And the news headlines, well, they taunt me.

All I want to do is sit back and reflect upon the national repercussions of the Scooter Libby trial, but then Robbie Williams busts outta rehab with a new tattoo and I'm forced to take stock of this momentous event.



By getting love tattooed across his knuckles on his right hand, what is Robbie telling us? Did he find God's love in detox? Or was he lonely and relegated to self-love? I'd also like to know what it is about rehab that drives people to the tattoo studio. Not once, but twice, we witnessed America's train wreck begging for the needle after stays in luxury treatment centers.

It's not like these celebs are going Straight Edge. The booze-filled post-tattoo partying does not indicate a non-tox trend, and I don't see tattoos like these catching on in Hollywood.

Instead, many actors and musicians--you know, creative types--search the depths of their platinum souls for body art that speaks for them, illustrating their very essence. Here's what they come up with: the backside bow, the mini wings, the forearm dice, and of course, the scratcher portrait of your TrimSpa suga-mama.

Ok, I'll accept that last one. Being Anna Nicole's bitch was limited in its lucrativeness. However, there's no excuse for multi-platinum artists, even if they are straight outta Compton.

The Game, aka Jayceon Tylor, refuses to pay for his tattoos--and it shows. ContactMusic.com quotes the rapper on his body decoration decisions:

I wouldn't call it sage tattoo advice but, then again, I aint gangsta. I suppose it's a g-thang: Money. Cash. Hoes. Sub-par body art.

In other headlines, Nylon magazine's March issue featured the fabulous Christina Ricci on the cover with the tag "Tattooed Rebel or Girl Next Door?", which I thought was funny as most of Ricci's patchwork tattoos were covered in the photo except some small blur on her ankle. Now Ricci's got a number of tattoos and a kick-ass style but I wouldn't trumpet her as the tattoo rebel darling. This crown clearly goes to Saint Angelina, and who among us here is not on Team Jolie?

Finally, in this needled celeb round-up, I'd like to welcome my fave comedian/activist/rapper Margaret Cho into the loving arms of freakdom. She's just added another beautiful Japanese inspired tattoo to her fabulous collection, which includes an Ed Hardy piece that winds around her belly-dancing waist. Her latest work of art is by Andrew Moore of Shogun Tattoo in Pasadena, CA.


Photo by Ian Harvie.

I'm hoping more celebrities show the same tattoo intelligence and not treat ink as swag. Free does not necessarily equal good. If more beautiful artwork adorned the bodies of tabloid staples, perhaps tattooing as fine art would become a trend, not a post-rehab adventure.


Marisa_DiMattia is a lawyer and editor of Needled.com, a blog on tattoo art and culture.