Happy Birthday Demi Lovato—Take a Tour of Her 21 Tattoos

On August 20th, singer Demi Lovato will turn 27-year-old. In honor of her big day, we’re celebrating her by taking a look at each and every one of her tattoos. Lovato has been getting tattooed for over a decade and has now become one of the most tattooed female pop stars on the charts. Take a look at her growing tattoo collection in the gallery below and let us know your thoughts on her ink in the comments section.

“III”

Lovato has a roman numeral tattoo on her forearm for her father, who passed away in June of 2013 after battling with cancer.

“Me,” and Smiley Face

Lovato got the word “Me” tattoo to signify focusing on her recovery, a year following her drug overdose.

She also has a smiley face tattooed on her pinky finger, sharing the photo on Instagram with the caption “Cause life’s too short not to tattoo your pinky ?”

Grandmother’s Portrait

On May 16th of 2019, Lovato visted Dr. Woo for the “most meaningful” tattoo she’s ever gotten, which is a black-and-grey portrait of her grandmother at age 26—Lovato’s current age.

Rose

Prior to Gaga getting her back tattooed, Lovato was the first celebrity to ask for a rose from artist Winter Stone.

Roses and “Stay Strong”

One of Lovato’s most recognizable tattoos is the “Stay Strong” script on the inside of her wrists. This tattoo came after her battle with self-harm and gained criticism because she chose to have it facing her.

Prior to collecting black-and-grey roses on her forearm, Lovato had a kiss print tattooed in this spot. However, after comparing the piece to female genitalia, the singer had the piece covered.

Lion

In true Leo fashion, Lovato has a black-and-grey lion inked by Bang Bang on her hand.

Dog Portrait with “Buddy Was Here”

After losing her dog Buddy in 2015, Lovato got the words “Buddy Was Here” inked on the side of her foot. She later added to the piece with his portrait by Dr. Woo.

“Free” and Cross

Lovato got the word “Free” inked on her finger following a relapse six years after becoming sober in June of 2018.

She also has a cross on the side of her hand, a nod to her Christian faith.

Dream Catcher with “You Make Me Beautiful”

Lovato’s first tattoo is the script on her side, which reads “You Make Me Beautiful.” Lovato got this tattoo at the age of 16 and spoke about the experience in an interview, sharing

“I was 16. And I got it in some tattoo artist’s apartment. Like it was so sketch, it was in L.A. But I wanted to get tattooed so bad. I do things out of rebellion. So that was like one of the main reasons why I got it so young.”

Years later, Lovato added to the piece with a pair of feathers and later a dream catcher, with the help of Bang Bang.

Roman Numerals

On the opposite side of Lovato’s ribs, she has a series of roman numerals, which represent the birthdays of her family members. These birthdays include her mother Dianna, her older sister Dallas, her younger half-sister Madison, her step-father Eddie, and her father Patrick.

Africa

After doing a mission trip in Kenya, Lovato revealed a tattoo of the continent of Africa on her arm in 2013.

“Now I’m a Warrior”

Lovato shared a photo of this tattoo on the same day her fourth album was dropped. This quote is a lyric from her song “Warrior” and when asked about the tattoo by Jimmy Fallon, she shared:

“I have a song on my album called ‘Warrior’ and it’s a very, very meaningful song to me. It’s really heavy, the lyrics, but it’s an inspirational song as well. It’s a negative thing turned positive. I’ve been through a lot and I’m really really honest on this album. And this is a song that was really difficult for me to write, record, and now release. [The tattoo] was kind of like a tribute to releasing the album as well as overcoming some really really difficult things in my life.”

“Faith” and Birds

In 2012, Lovato got 12 birds tattooed on her forearm to represent the 12-step recovery program practiced by Alcholics Anonymous.

“I love the freedom that birds represent and I didn’t specifically have a huge reason why I got 12 of them,” she told iHeartRadio. “But one day, one of my friends that I was at Sober Living, I was living in her Sober Living house, and they asked, ‘So why’d you get … How many did you get?’ And I was like, ‘I don’t know. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve,’ and I was like, ‘Whoa, I didn’t mean to do that.’ But it’s like, it was kind of like a God thing, like I worked the 12 steps, so as I got that while I was in Sober Living, apparently it was really meant to be.”

Prior to the birds, Lovato got the word faith inked on her arm, which she got with friend Lauren Martin whom she met in rehab.

“Let Go & Love God”

Lovato got yet another tattoo for her faith in September of 2012.

“Rock N Roll”

Lovato got a matching “Rock N Roll” tattoo on her finger with friend Hanna Beth Merjos.

“Peace”

Lovato also has the word “Peace” inked inside her middle finger.

Feather

In June of 2010, Lovato got her one and only color tattoo (not counting the lips she covered) in a bus on Warped Tour.