Breaking Up Is Hard 'Tattoo': Celebs Who Have Removed Their Ex-Themed Ink

Pete Davidson

During the nine months he was romantically involved with Kim Kardashian, the comedian acquired some meaningful ink symbolizing their relationship. Months after their split, Davidson was spotted shirtless on a beach vacation, but his Kardashian-inspired tattoos were not.

Missing from his collarbone are three tattoos. The SNL alumnus previously wore the words "My girl is a lawyer" (in reference to Kardashian passing the baby bar test in December 2021) and the letters "KNSCP" (initials to represent his girlfriend's name and her four children shared with ex Kanye West: North, Saint, Chicago and Psalm).

Davidson also had an infinity sign with the names "Aladdin" and "Jasmine" permanently written below his others to symbolize the SNL sketch that marked his first kiss with the SKIMS mogul.

Pete Davidson (Again)

One week before his split from fiancée Ariana Grande, Davidson changed up the Playboy-inspired bunny ears mask (the one Grande wore on the cover of her Dangerous Woman album) tattooed on the left side of his neck, which he got when the two began dating.

He replaced it with a large heart and a small lowercase "a" next to the design, perhaps to signal that the tattoo change was not because of a falling-out with Grande.

According to the New York Post's Page Six, he transformed his tattoo to match Grande, who has a large heart tattoo on her body (it's unclear where).

But since their split became permanent, there's more to change: they each had tiny clouds on their fingers; the word "reborn" on their thumbs; the acronym "H2GKMO" inked on their right thumbs (it's an abbreviation of Grande's favorite saying, "Honest to God, knock me out"); and the numbers "8418," which was Davidson's late father's FDNY badge number, on their arms and ankles.

He got the same French phrase (popularized by Breakfast at Tiffany's) "mille tendresse" on the back of his neck to coordinate with his ex-girl, she has the word "always" on her rib cage (some think it is an homage to the couple's shared love of Harry Potter) and on her ring finger she has his name (he has her initials on his).

(Even More) Pete Davidson

The reason behind his decision to cover up an arm tat of ex-girlfriend Cazzie David's face made sense once Davidson began dating Grande. The actor's tattoo artist, Jon Mesa, shared before-and-after photos in May 2018 of the re-worked ink on Davidson's arm, revealing a now-covered collection of tattoos that included the cartoon drawing of David, a series of stars, the words "I was saying I was crazy before I knew I was," and "X.XI Forever." It's unclear what the numbers represented in roman numerals, 10.11, might signify.

Melanie Brown

Following the demise of her 10-year marriage to ex Stephen Belafonte, whom the Spice Girl says abused her, Mel B underwent a procedure to slice off Belafonte's name from her "Stephen, till death do us part you own my heart" tattoo on her side.

"I wanted the tattoo removed to help close the final chapter on a toxic relationship," Brown told PEOPLE. "Even though I've taken the steps to remove Stephen's name from my body, the domestic abuse will forever remain with me."

Amber Rose

Once the model/actress moved on from ex Wiz Khalifa, whom she split from in 2014, she opted to cover up a tattoo of the rapper's face. Where Khalifa's ink portrait once featured on the star's arm is now a tattoo of what appears to be rocker Slash.

Kylie Jenner

Jenner got an ankle tattoo redone following her breakup with Tyga. Where there was once a lowercase "t," Jenner has replaced it with a lowercase "la." Jenner and Tyga were first linked in the fall of 2014, though they did not confirm their relationship until March 2015. Back in April 2017, multiple sources confirmed to PEOPLE that the Keeping Up with the Kardashians star and the rapper were officially over.

Kaley Cuoco

The actress documented her tat — which she specifically got to cover up the one of her wedding date to ex Ryan Sweeting — on Instagram. "Note to self — do not mark your body with any future wedding dates," she wrote, adding, "#under30mistakes #donttakeyourselftooseriouslykids."

The updated body art appears to be an insect with very specific symbolism: "The deep, meaningful, larger than life meaning behind this beautiful piece of ink, is ... It covered the last one," she captioned an Instagram pic.

Johnny Depp

Arguably the most famous celebrity tattoo do-over belongs to Depp, who got the name of his girlfriend (and Edward Scissorhands costar) Winona Ryder emblazoned on his right shoulder as "Winona Forever." The inscription, sadly, was not prophetic: the couple broke up in the early '90s. In 1994, Depp had the last two letters of Ryder's first name removed, creating the motto "Wino Forever." As he told Playboy, the new tattoo is "actually a bit more accurate."

Angelina Jolie

Jolie has succeeded in scrubbing her public image of the days when she was married to Billy Bob Thornton, a feat which took some literal erasing. After her divorce from the Sling Blade actor in 2003, Jolie removed the tattoo of his name from her left arm. She's since replaced it with the coordinates of her globe-spanning family's birthplaces.

Melanie Griffith

Griffith had husband Antonio Banderas's name tattooed inside a heart in the 1990s, but after the couple split, Griffith apparently decided the sentiment no longer held. When the actress stepped out at the Italian Film Festival in 2014, the heart remained, but Banderas's name had been conveniently – and messily – erased.

Eva Longoria

The Desperate Housewives star celebrated her marriage to basketball player Tony Parker with three tattoos marking the occasion. The first, a giant "NINE" on the back of her neck, was a reference to Parker's jersey number; the second, a small "07-07-07" on her wrist, was the day the couple were wed; the third, Parker's initials, was hidden somewhere on her body. After the couple divorced in 2010, Longoria waited two years, then got them all removed.

Heidi Klum

Seal famously called a kiss from a rose "power, pleasure and pain" – which, we're guessing, is also the mixture of feelings his ex-wife felt when she got the tattoo of his name removed (well, mostly removed!) from her arm in 2013.

Marc Anthony

After his divorce from Jennifer Lopez in 2011, the singer no longer wanted his tattoo to praise Lopez, so he buried it – under an elaborate cover-up.

Denise Richards

The union of Richards and Charlie Sheen was not marked by an excess of forward planning. The couple pledged their devotion in 2002 by tattooing each other's names on their bodies ("I've never had anyone tattoo anything for me!" Richards told PEOPLE at the time), but five years and one divorce later, both were regretting the ink. Sheen got the "Denise" on his wrist removed at the request of then-fiancée Brooke Mueller; Richards had the "Charlie" on her ankle turned into a fairy.