Celebrity couples — like all couples, really — express their love for each other in different ways. Some get married, some frequently profess their love for each other on Instagram, and others decide to make a different kind of commitment involving tattoos on their bodies. Over the years, we've seen so many celebs get tattoos in honor of the person they're dating or married to, and while sometimes that level of commitment pays off, we've seen some celebrity breakups that make us feel really awkward about those tattoos they now have to cover up (or look at for the rest of their lives).
Over the years, there have been a lot of stars who have taken the tattoo plunge in honor of the one they love (Jennifer Lopez celebrated Valentine's Day in 2023 by getting a tattoo that coordinates with one that husband Ben Affleck has). There are some celebrities who are probably wishing they could take back their tattoo decisions right about now, and there are other couples (like Chrissy Teigen and John Legend) who are probably still so happy about their matching body art.
Read on for stars who have gotten all tatted up to show their love. It's not for everyone, but we hope they're happy with their choices.
Jennifer Lopez
On Valentine's Day in 2023, Jennifer Lopez celebrated her husband, Ben Affleck, on Instagram with a photo tribute. The snapshots she shared included this one of her showing off her freshly inked torso. As she explained in her caption, the design is an infinity symbol — representing "commitment" — with an arrow through it. Another photo in her post shows a coordinating tattoo that Ben has on his own torso, featuring a pair of crossed arrows and their respective initials, J and B. If you're going to bust rumors of marriage trouble, this is the way to do it!
Matthew Koma
In September 2020, Matthew Koma tattooed wife Hilary Duff's name on his butt — and yep, this is real. To make it even better, Hilary seemed to love it, and the tattoo appears to be done in her own handwriting. "Good luck winning a fight with your wife when her name's tattooed on your butt cheek," Matthew wrote in his caption.
Lauren London
After the death of her boyfriend Nipsey Hussle, when he was shot outside of his Los Angeles store in March 2019, Lauren London got a full portrait of the late rapper tattooed on her arm to remember him. "Real love never dies," Lauren wrote on Instagram at the time. "When you see me, you will always see him."
Chrissy Teigen
In April 2019, Chrissy Teigen debuted matching tattoos with husband John Legend that feature his name, along with the names of their oldest two children, Luna and Miles. "Hey guys, please don't talk to us unless you have tattoos. We are a cool tattoo family now and we only want to talk to other tattoo families (sorry if this seems harsh)," Chrissy joked in her Instagram caption when she showed off her new ink.
Megan Fox
When Megan Fox and then-boyfriend Machine Gun Kelly walked the American Music Awards red carpet in November 2020, fans noticed that she had a tattoo that said "el pistolero," which means "the gunman" — an obvious shout-out to Kelly. Although it still remains to be seen if she'll end up regretting this choice.
Catt Sadler
In July 2019, Catt Sadler and boyfriend Nick LaKind got tattoos to show their love for each other. Catt got "LNL" — for Logan Nicholas LaKind — tattooed on her arm, while her boyfriend got the words "Cathy Ann" tattooed near his wrist in script. Unfortunately, the couple is no longer together — but maybe they can get those tats covered up?
Angelina Jolie
Though Angelina Jolie has a lot of tattoos, this one is specifically dedicated to her ex-husband. See these coordinates on Angelina's arm? One of them is the coordinates of where Brad Pitt was born, while the rest are where their children were born. So far, she hasn't seemed to cover up Brad's, even though they split in 2016.
LeAnn Rimes
In 2012, singer LeAnn Rimes got a tattoo on her foot that said "the only one that matters" in honor of her love, Eddie Cibrian, not long after they got married. She explained in a tweet that she likes having "dainty" and "feminine" tattoos, and this one definitely qualifies.
Heidi Klum
Before Heidi Klum and Seal went their separate ways in 2012, she had Seal's name tattooed on her arm, along with a star to represent each year they were married. Since their breakup (and her marriage to Tom Kaulitz), Heidi tends to cover up Seal's name, but lets her stars show.
Nick Cannon
When Nick Cannon and Mariah Carey were still married, he got a pretty huge tattoo of her name on his back. That's a big commitment, and as we all know, that marriage didn't exactly work out. But by 2014, Nick had covered up the tattoo with a large crucifixion-themed design instead.
Jason Aldean
Country star Jason Aldean has a lot of tattoos, but one of them just so happens to be dedicated to the love of his life. In February 2019, Jason got a tattoo that says "Britt" on his wrist in honor of wife Brittany Kerr, along with the names of their children, Memphis and Navy, on his arm.
Dakota Johnson & Chris Martin
After about a year of dating, in 2018, paparazzi photos revealed that Dakota Johnson and Coldplay frontman Chris Martin got matching tattoos of their own. They both feature an infinity sign that is intertwined by two Xs, likely signifying the fact that their relationship will last forever (and so far, so good on that front).
Pete Davidson & Ariana Grande
Though this relationship has been over for a long time — and they have since covered up their matching ink — once upon a time, Pete Davidson and Ariana Grande got tattoos in honor of their relationship. Pete had artwork from Ariana's Dangerous Woman album, while Ariana's ink — which she had placed on her finger — was of her ex's name, "Pete."
Johnny McDaid
Snow Patrol rocker Johnny McDaid got Courteney Cox's initials tattooed on his wrist as a symbol of their love in 2016. Though the couple has been on and off over the years, these days they're still together, so it seems like the tattoo was a solid choice — at least, as far as we can tell.
Lea Michele
After the death of her boyfriend Cory Monteith, Lea Michele got two tattoos in honor of him: the word "Finn" on her thigh — the character he played on Glee — and the number 5 on her ribcage, which just so happened to be Finn's football number on the show. So sweet!
Brian Austin Green
Brian Austin Green and Megan Fox got matching tattoos of their own, including Megan's name on Brian's chest and his name on her lower stomach. These two have since split, though — and Megan went on to get that tattoo she dedicated to MGK, so who knows if Brian has any regrets at this point.
Travis Barker
Now that they're married — and Travis Barker is the kind of guy who loves tattoos, clearly — it's no surprise that he decided to get one in honor of wife Kourtney Kardashian. In January 2023, he added a tattoo of Kourtney's eyes to his upper thigh. Swipe to see it!
Joe Jonas & Sophie Turner
In July 2019, both Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner decided to get matching tattoos in honor of someone they both loved so much: their dog, Waldo. Heartbreakingly, he died in an accident that summer, and just days later, they decided that tattoos would be the perfect way to memorialize him.
Pete Davidson (Again)
While he was dating Kim Kardashian, Pete Davidson got a tattoo of the words "my girl is a lawyer." They've been split for a while now, though, and in January 2023, Pete seemed to have that tattoo — along with the other Kim-related ink he sported during their relationship — removed.
