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Pete Davidson is aware that getting rid of his tattoos isn't easy. The Saturday Night Live star acknowledged that it will take a while to remove the hundreds of tattoos he has on his body, which he is currently lasering off.
"It will all be gone when I'm forty," Pete said on Feb. 6 on Late Night with Seth Meyers, "like the chest and back."
Additionally, each tattoo requires at least seven appointments, making the process difficult. "If it's black and white, it's a little easier," he told Seth Meyers. "But if it's a color tattoo, it takes forever."
The 31-year-old has some colored ink on his body, but the majority of his tattoos are black and gray.
What tattoo does he regret the most? In his own words, "All of them."
"I made a lot of those decisions before rehab, so I have the dumbest tattoos," Pete said. "I got a collection of cartoons smoking blunts, like a muppet smoking a blunt, the Tootsie Pop owl smoking a blunt."
He also explained the "horrible" method by which a laser breaks down the ink particles in your skin by emitting light.
"They have 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," he shared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last month. "Then you have to do it, like, 12 more times."
Removing his tattoos marks a new chapter in the life of the Bodies Bodies Bodies actor, who has been open about his issues with mental health. He previously disclosed that he had acquired several tattoos to conceal the scars from his self-harm, but they also served as an extra means of causing him pain.
He stated, "That's why I started getting tats on my chest, to cover them," in an interview with Charlamagne Tha God in February 2020. "If you're unable to get a tattoo, it's just a release. Sometimes that's the only thing that works for me when I'm really agitated and manic."
He added, "When I get really angry or upset, it feels really good to just get needled up or get a tat."
However, he also emphasized that he had since learned healthy coping mechanisms in rehab that have helped with his recovery, including cold showers and listening to music.
