Angelina Jolie Tattoos

Angelina Jolie is a famous actress with a serious love for tattoos, she's regularly featured in celebrity news magazines and websites with one of her new tattoo designs. She has at least a dozen tattoos over her body and she also has quiet a lot experience with tattoo removal (see the end of this article for the tattoos that she had removed).

When shooting a film, her tattoos are covered with makeup. Each one of her tattoos have a special meaning.

Angelina Jolie's tattoos are perhaps just as well known as her trademark pouty lips and her performances on the silver screen. Angelina Jolie is the "world's most beautiful woman," according to the "100 Most Beautiful" issue of People magazine in 2006, and a large part of that probably has to do with her tattoos.

Here's an overview with pictures of Angelina Jolie's tattoos.

This Gothic letter tattoo between her shoulder blades says "Know Your Rights". It's the title of a song of her favorite band.

This tattoo on her left shoulder blade was, just like the tiger tattoo, done by tattoo artist Noo (aka Sompong) Kanhphaiin in a hotel in Pathum Thani, 16 miles north of Bangkok.
It is a Buddhist Pali incantation written in Khmer script, the language of Cambodia. It is there to protect her and her adopted Cambodian son Maddox from bad luck.
Here's the translation:
May your enemies run far away from you.
If you acquire riches, may they remain yours always.
Your beauty will be that of Apsara.
Wherever you may go, many will attend, serve and protect you, surrounding you on all sides.

This Arabic script tattoo on Angelina Jolie's right arm means "Determination". It covers up the abstract lines tattoo she had done together with her ex Billy Bob Thornton.
Several websites say that it means "Strength of Will", but that is wrong.

This tattoo on her left underarm is the Roman number 13. She had it done because she doesn't believe in superstitions.
Later she had V MCMXL added to the tattoo. 13 May 1940 is the date when Winston Churchill gave a famous speech, in which he said: "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat".

This tattoo on Jolie's left arm are the words of Tennessee Williams:
"A prayer for the wild at heart, kept in cages."
Angelina Jolie had this tattoo done in the presence of her mother.

This cross tattoo covers the little dragon with the blue tongue she had done in Amsterdam. Next to it is a phrase in Latin:
"Quod me nutrit me destruit", meaning "What nourishes me, destroys me."
Angelina Jolie had the cross tattoo done the day before she married Johnny Lee Miller in 1995. In her own words: "It was all symbolic, and it was a good thing, nothing dark."

This rune style tattoo on Angelina's wrist is the letter h. Depending on the source it is to remind her of her ex boyfriend Timothy Hutton or her brother, James Haven.

These numbers are the geographical coordinates (longitudes and latitudes) from the locations where her children first entered her life.

1. N11° 33' 00" E104° 51' 00" : the place in Cambodia where Angelina Jolie's eldest son Maddox was born.
   
2. N09° 02' 00" E038° 45' 00" : the place in Ethiopia were her daughter Zahara was born.
   
3. S22° 40' 26" E014° 31' 40" : the place in Namibia (Swakopmund) where Angelina gave birth to her biological daughter with Brad Pitt, Shiloh (Hebrew for "the peaceful one"), was born.
   
4. N10° 46' 00" E106° 41' 40" : the place in Vietnam where Angelina's son Pax Thien was born.

The coordinates tattoo covers the place where the dragon tattoo and name of her ex husband Billy Bob used to be before they got lasered off. You can still see the dragon a bit.
 

This 12-inch long, 8-inch wide Bengal tiger tattoo on her lower back is Angelina Jolie's latest. It was done in Bangkok on July 8, 2004, during a 2 hour session by tattoo artist Sompong Kanhphai who also blessed it by chanting an ancient hymn. Sompong also did her Khmer tattoo. She had the tiger tattoo done to celebrate her Cambodian citizenship.
The tiger tattoo was done in the traditional Thai tattoo style with a manual needle. The tiger's tail covers her blue window tattoo.
Angelina wants to have yet another tattoo done in Thailand.

Removed or Covered Up Tattoos

This is Angelina Jolie's Asian dragon tattoo with the name of her second husband Billy Bob Thornton above it (added later). She had it removed after they broke up.
In an interview during the time of the tattoo removal procedure she said:
"I'll never be stupid enough to have a man's name tattooed on me again."

It took 5 visits to the tattoo removal clinic to erase the dragon and you can still see it a bit.

Jolie has 3 tattoos on her lower back: a tribal, a blue window and a tribal dragon.
The tribal dragon is now partly covered by the tiger tattoo.
The window is symbol for the fact that she always found herself looking through the window, wishing she was somewhere else. The window is covered up by the tail of the Bengal tiger. She had it covered because she is where she wants to be right now.

This dragon tattoo with blue tongue on Angelina's hip is covered up by the cross tattoo (see above). She got it in Amsterdam while she was drunk.

This abstract lines tattoo design on Angelina Jolie's right arm is a custom tattoo created by herself and Billy Bob Thornton. It is now covered up with the Arabic tattoo.

This tattoo on Jolie's left shoulder blade is the Japanese symbol for Death and it reminds her to live. She had it removed and now has the Khmer tattoo for her son Maddox on that place. This Japanese tattoo was her first tattoo ever.

This tattoo on her right arm is the Japanese symbol for Courage. Her ex husband Johnny Lee Miller had a matching tattoo, that's why she had it removed, it didn't feel like her own.

Other Tattoos

There are 3 more tattoos, but there are no pictures of them:

• Angelina Jolie had a tattoo below her naval which is probably removed. It depicted energy waves. She had it done in 1998 by Daemon Rowanchilde @ Urban Primitive Body Design.
• She has a tattoo in the pubic area referring to Billy Bob Thornton.
• Angelina has the letter M tattooed on the palm of her hand, a remembrance for her mother Marcheline Bertrand, who passed away.