All The Tattoos Of Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp is one of those famous celebrities who are true tattoo aficionados. This Hollywood star is much loved around the world for his role in the 'Pirates of the Carribean' movies.

Unable to cope with the stress of dealing with family problems and his own insecurity, he turned to self-harm as a child. He has seven or eight scars from practicing self-harm. In an interview, he explained his self-injury by saying, "My body is a journal in a way. It's like what sailors used to do, where every tattoo meant something, a specific time in your life when you make a mark on yourself, whether you do it yourself with a knife or with a professional tattoo artist".

He has fourteen known tattoos till now, including the "head of Cherokee Indian chief" for his ancestral heritage, the name of his first-born child "Lily-Rose" over his heart, his mother's name "Betty Sue", and a sparrow flying over water with the his son's name "Jack" below it.The latest addition is "Silence Exile Cunning"

He also has a ribbon tattoo reading "Wino Forever" which originally read "Winona Forever", but Depp had the "na" in the tattoo removed after his breakup with Winona Ryder.

Nearly half of Depp's tattoos were done by New York tattooist Jonathan Shaw who acted as a tattoo artist in Clint Eastwood's movie titled Tightrope.

The following are some of the tattoos he has done over the years.

"Betty Sue" is a memorial tattoo. It starts with the famous 'heart' tattoo with a ribbon banner through the middle bearing the name of his mother. This kind of tattoos were popular with servicemen who wanted to remember home and what they were fighting for.

I think the "Inverted Triangle", which is above the Betty Sue tattoo also symbolizes heart, and is a universal symbol of the feminine, often used as an expression of romantic love.

The "Brave Symbol" on his inside right arm is from his movie The Brave.

"The Swallow" or "Flying Bird" is from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean. Johnny took the tattoo on his right forearm, turned it around, so that the bird flies towards him and added his son's name, "Jack" below it.

Traditionally a sailor gets this tatoo after traveling 5000 nautical miles at sea. Often a swallow is the 'first sign that land is near' and it means 'safe return home' for the sailor.

Swallows are known to travel quite a distance out to sea during migration and would rest on boats close to shore which gave early seagoers the first sign that land was close by.

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"Wino Forever" tattoo on his upper right arm, was once dedicated to his girlfriend(at that time) Winona Ryder with the words 'Winona Forever'. Later he laser edited it to "Wino Forever" when they broke up.

"Winona Forever" was done at Sunset Strip Tattoo for 75 Dollars, whose adline says `Tattooers of the Stars Since 1971' - Johnny's `Winona Forever' double-banner tattoo was engraved into his right bicep to match the tribute to his mother on his left.

On his right biceps just below 'Wino' is the tattoo of a "Cherokee Indian Chief in full headdress", a tribute to his Cherokee great-great-grandmother, Minnie. It denotes his ancestral cultural heritage.

Also see "Say Body Paint Or Body Art"

There are "Three Little Rectangles" to be found on his right index finger. He describes these squares as a "permanent phone doodle."

On his left hand is this number "3". Regarding this 3 he commented in the Young Flix Magazine in April 1996, "Three is a sort of special number for me. It's a very creative number. Triangle, trinity -- you know, two people make another person. Three is a mystical, magical number."

Johnny wears the name of his daugther Lily-Rose Meldody near his heart in script "Lily-Rose".

On his outside lower right leg Johnny has a "Skull and Crossbones" with the phrase "Death Is Certain" below it.

And then, there is a question mark "?"on the right inside leg over the ankle.

The latest addition that's visible is the "Silence Exile Cunning" on his left arm, which wasfirst noticed at the MTV movie awards this year. Apparently it is taken from a book by James Joyce titled "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man".- Thanks to Jay

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