Rihanna has a huge collection of tattoos. Given that she’s rated by American magazine Time as one of the world’s most influential people and by Forbes in 2012 as the 4th most powerful celebrity we thought we’d take a look at each and every one of her 19 tattoos:
1) We start with the Pisces sign which Rihanna has tattooed behind her ear. No prizes for guessing the meaning of this one… yes, her birth date makes her a Pisces!
2) On her ankle she has a couple of music notes. Given how she is now arguably the world’s biggest pop star we’d expect at least one of her tattoos to reference music!
3) The Arabic writing on her rib cage says “Al Hurria fi Al Maseeh” – this translates to “Freedom in God”. Although not deeply religious Rihanna does show an interest in it:
4) The next of her tattoos that we look at is an Egyptian Falcon tattoo on her right ankle. The falcon is in the shape of a handgun. She explained the meaning of the tattoo on Twitter saying, “Falcon: a light that shines in the darkness! Never close their eyes during sleep.”
5) The trail of stars on the back of her neck have become a big fashion fit with many of her fans being inspired to copy this tattoo:
6) Going vertically down her hip is a tattoo of Hindu scripture prayer. It translates roughly to “long suffering, truthfulness, self-restraint, inward calm, fear and fearlessness”. It’s not of the whole prayer though as the part which mentions ‘pleasure, pain, birth, death’ is omitted, some claim accidentally:
7) This tattoo is believed to be a symbol of friendship, plus Rihanna is also a big fan of star tattoos!
8) Skull and crossbones are always popular tattoos to choose but Rihanna has added a cute feminine touch to hers with the pink bow:
9) There’s always a place for a Love tattoo and Rihanna has chosen her place to be on the side of one of her middle fingers:
10) Ironically Rihanna got her ‘Shhh…..’ tattoo just before the launch of her album ‘Talk That Talk’ was released:
11) This gun as originally in line to be two guns, one on each arm, but instead Rihanna opted for one gun on her rib cage, as her tattoo artist Bang Bang explained, “I really wanted to put it here [on her arms]… She loved ‘em. But, Cover Girl wouldn’t have liked it much… and they pay the bills! Ended up doing it on her ribs.”
12) Here’s a tattoo of some wise words – “Never A Failure, Always A Lesson” – highlighting how the key in life is to learn from failures rather than get down about them:
13) On her shoulder is the birth date 4th November 1986. Not hers but the birthday of her best friend and manager:
14) Rihanna got this tribal tattoo when she was in New Zealand. Explaining its meaning she said, “It’s tribal. It represents strength and love. It’s their traditional way of tattooing. I always wanted [one]… [But] it hurt like hell!”
15) This is a French saying ‘Rebelle Fleur’ – it means rebellious flower. Rihanna is known for having a rebellious streak!
16) This tattoo is a little mysterious. It’s a script on her back just above her bikini line but the meaning of it isn’t publicly known.
17) She has a small cross on her neck. Her tattoo artist Bang Bang said of it, “We did a very fine small cross directly on her collarbone. She said her cross meant a lot to her and she totally loved it!”
18) Her ‘Thug Life’ tattoo was inspired by rapper Tupac (2Pac) Shakur’s tattoo, who had these same words inked on his stomach before he was killed in 1996:
19) Finally, last but far from least is the tattoo of Goddess Isis which Rihanna has between her breasts. The name Iris means ‘Throne’ and she’s known for being the perfect mother and wife. This gave her the title of goddess of children but she’s also been known as being the protector of the dead which is possibly why Rihanna has her tattoo.
