Pete Davidson is opening up on his “horrible” tattoo removal process. During his Thursday appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the comedian explained his “years-long” journey of removing his 200 tattoos. The 31-year-old’s sobriety motivated him to undergo laser tattoo removal, on which he has spent $200,000, a source told People.
Pete Davidson gets candid about his ‘years-long’ tattoo removal process
The Saturday Night Live alum revealed that the process of removing a tattoo is “worse” than getting inked. “It’s horrible,” he said as he explained how the procedure involves “burning off” the tattoos.
“They’ve got to burn off a layer of your skin, and then it has to heal for, like, six to eight weeks. And you can’t get in the sunlight, and you’ve got to do it, like, 12 more times,” Davidson said.
Davidson, who is currently on a press tour for his new animated film, Dog Man, also discussed the laser tattoo removal process during Friday’s episode of Today alongside hosts Savannah Guthrie and Craig Melvin.
“It’s pretty terrible, so if anybody out there is watching and thinking about getting a tattoo, make sure you really want to get it,” he said before pulling up his sleeve to show his healed forearm sans tattoos. “It’s pretty gone,” he added.
Recalling what drove him to undergo the process, Davidson said, “I got sober and I saw myself in the mirror and I was like, ‘Nah. Who that?’ I was like, ‘I got to change it up a little bit.’”
A source told People that the comedian “just woke up one day and wanted them gone, and it’s been a years-long process.” Noting that the process marks a fresh start for him, the source revealed that Davidson “has been sober since September, and gained twenty pounds.”
“Things are going really well for him,” the insider went on, adding, “Things are heading in the right direction, and he’s receiving excellent reviews for the movie.’”