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With paparazzi lurking around every corner, celebrity trysts can be tricky. But it gets dicier when the two people knocking boots have a penchant for memorializing their love with a tattoo.
“Hey, it’s not like when we’re doing it he’s like, ‘I can’t stand to look at it,’” says the heavily-inked Kat Von D when asked how her rock-star boyfriend, Nikki Sixx, reacts to her habit of getting - and keeping - lovers’ names tattooed on her body.
After all, Sixx, the 50-year-old bassist for Motley Crue, has tattoos with his ex’s names too.
“So I don’t regret any of mine,” she chuckles, down the line from her Los Angeles home.
In case you don’t believe the first lady of body art, the newly released “High Voltage” – a part biography, part tattoo guide – provides plenty of proof. In chapter two, she gives readers a 10-page directory to what she’s got and where.
“I still have my ex-husband’s name on my neck,” she says. “Those were special times in my life, so it’s not like I look at them and go, ‘Oh my God, I hate that guy.’ It’s more like, ‘I remember the day that I got this. It was a wonderful surprise to my now…ex.’ But, it is what it is.”
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Parlaying a stint on “Miami Ink” in 2005 into her own breakout reality hit spinoff, “LA Ink,” Von D, 27, has provided plenty of tabloid fodder – besides dating Sixx, she has also been linked to the late Roy Orbison’s son, Alex – and launched her own line of cosmetics.
But after opening her own shop, High Voltage Tattoo, in Hollywood, and launching her own show, Von D strayed from appealing to just tattoo aficionados and found herself at home in mom-and-pop living rooms across North America.
“I think a lot of the reason that show is successful has to do with peoples’ back stories,” she explains. “’LA Ink’ is about the art in general, but I think relaying the stories behind each of the tattoos makes it relatable. If my dad can watch it, and relate to some of the people coming in and getting tattoos, then anybody can.”
Hooked on a mix of ink, heavy metal and punk since she was 14, Von D knows she hasn’t done enough to warrant a true biography – though recollections of her first love, which culminated in her getting the letter J on her ankle, and her knack for classical music go a long way to showing she’s more than just midriff-baring tops, stripper high heels, black nail polish and an oversized personality.
“I definitely didn’t want to do an autobiography,” she says, “because obviously I’m too young for that. I wanted the book to be more of an insider’s view of the tattoo world. I wanted to talk about the world of tattooing in such a way that people can read the book whether they’re tattooed or not and still come away learning something.”
“High Voltage” is also an opportunity for the self-described music buff to let fans in on what gets her creative juices flowing. And if you think ‘cutthroat career women,’ ‘steak’ and ‘found Polaroids’ are a slightly odd mix of inspirations, Von D somehow makes sense of it all.
“I just collect Polaroids from all over,” she laughs. “My favourite Polaroid that I have is of this guy who wrote me from jail and included this childhood picture of himself where he’s smoking a cigarette. I love that. I highly doubt that I’ll ever meet that guy, but I think that’d make an awesome tattoo.”
As for her mild obsession with career-oriented females and steak, she turns serious, if only for a moment.
“I’ve always admired businesswomen in general,” she says. “Women who have worked pretty hard to get wherever it is that they are without sleeping their way through the middle are people I really look up to. Whenever I meet awesome businesswomen, I think it’s inspiring. I definitely want to be like that.
"And steak…I just love filets.”
The book also provides some handy dos-and-don’ts for fence-sitters who are considering getting a tattoo.
“I write a lot about finding the right artist and the right art for you,” she explains. “A lot of people go with fads, or they’ll bring in other people’s tattoos and they want the same version of it.
“It’s all about being an individual and doing things for yourself and nobody else. I think a lot of people, when they get tattooed for the wrong reasons, it turns out to be something regrettable later. People come up to me and say, ‘Oh look, I got this because of you.’ I think it’s a great form of flattery, but if you look up to me, I’d rather you get something more original.”
With a follow-up book already in the works, the only thing “High Voltage” doesn’t address, is whether her classical music training, unabashed love of rock n’ roll and fiery relationship with Mr. Sixx will prompt her to consider trading tattooing for a go-round singing on “American Idol.”
“I don’t even own a television and I haven’t watched any shows for nine years,” she says dismissively. “I do play the piano a lot and I am classically trained, but it’s hard for me to make up my own music. Besides, I think Nikki is so talented that I would be flattering myself into thinking I could do something like that with him.
“I wish I was Little Richard about it, but unfortunately I don’t have that capability. I should work on that.”
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