Angelina Jolie’s 22 Tattoos & Their Meanings

Angelina Jolie is world-renowned mesmerizing beauty who is known for her amazing talent. She has always been in headlines for several reasons. But do you know that this beautiful star is a tattoo enthusiast and has more than dozens of tattoos on her body! Although many of her tattoos have been either removed or covered up over the years, most of her tats were done during her happy times and represent a diary of her life. So, let’s explore Angelina Jolie’s tattoos and their meanings.angelina jolie-tattoos

1. ‘The Bengal Tiger’ Tattoo

Angelina Jolie's Bengal Tiger Tattoo

Tattoo: ‘The Bengal Tiger’ Tattoo on her lower back.

Meaning: Angelina got a 12 inches long and 8 inches wide ‘Bengal Tiger’ tattoo inked on her lower back in 2004. This tattoo is inked by the tattoo artist, ‘Sompong Kanphai’ who blessed this tattoo with an ancient hymn. Angelina’s ‘Khmer’ tattoo is also inked by him. ‘The Bengal Tiger’ tattoo was done to commemorate her Cambodian citizenship. This tattoo was done in a traditional Thai Style in which a manual needle was used.

Earlier, She had an ‘ancient dragon with a window’ tattoo which is now modified with the ‘Bengal Tiger’ tattoo. The tattoo of the window symbolizes her search for being somewhere else. Later, she got it modified with the tail of the tiger as she believed that she has already found the place where she would like to be.

angelina jolie-ancient dragon tattoo

Angelina’s ‘Ancient Dragon’ tattoo is now covered up with ‘Bengal Tiger’ tattoo

2. ‘know your rights’ Tattoo

know your rights tattoo

Tattoo: ‘Know your rights’ Tattoo on her upper back.

Meaning: It is a song from ‘The clash’ (her favorite band). She got this tattoo done in 2004.

3. ‘Khmer Script’ Tattoo

Angelina Khmer script Tattoo

Tattoo: ‘Khmer Script’ Tattoo on her left shoulder.

Meaning: Earlier, Angelina had the Japanese word ‘Death’ inked on her left shoulder as a ‘reminder to live for herself’ which is now covered by the ‘Khmer Script’ tattoo. She got ‘Khmer Script’ prayer inked for her son Maddox Chivan whom she adopted in 2002. She got this tattoo inked to protect her son from bad luck. In English, this tattoo means,

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.”

Again, this tattoo is inked by the tattoo artist, Sompong Kanphai.

angelina-jolie' death tattoo

The Japanese word ‘Death’ is now covered with a ‘Khmer Script’ tattoo

4. ‘Cross’ Tattoo

angelina jolie-cross tattoo

Tattoo: ‘Cross’ Tattoo below her waistline.

Meaning: Angelina got a large ‘cross’ tattoo to cover her previous ‘dragon with blue tongue’ tattoo which she got while on a trip to Amsterdam. It was a funky-looking tattoo of a dragon with a blue tongue and she got this tattoo when she wasn’t in her senses and she soon regretted it. The tattoo was soon covered with a cross tattoo. Along with the cross tattoo, she got inked the phrase Quod Me Nutrit Me Destruit.’

She got this cross tattoo just a day before marrying Johnny Lee Miller in 1995. After getting this tattoo, she made a public statement and said,

It was all symbolic, and it was a good thing, nothing dark.”

angelina jolie-blue tongue dragon tattoo

Angelina Jolie’s ‘dragon with blue tongue’ tattoo is now covered with a ‘cross’ tattoo

5. ‘Quod Me Nutrit Me Destruit’ Tattoo

angelina jolie Quod Me Nutrit Me Destruit tattoo

Tattoo: ‘Quod Me Nutrit Me Destruit’ Tattoo below her waistline.

Meaning: To cover the blue tongue dragon tattoo, Angelina got a large black cross with a Latin saying beside it. The saying ‘Quod Me Nutrit Me Destruit’ is inked with the cross which translates to

What nourishes me, destroys me.”

She got this tattoo inked a day before marrying Johnny Lee Miller in 1995.

6. ‘Roman Numerals’ Tattoo

angelina-jolie roman numeral tattoo

Tattoo: ‘Roman Numerals’ Tattoo on her left forearm.

Meaning: The Roman numerals XIII (13) and a V MCMXL are inked on Angelina’s left forearm. Both the tattoos were inked separately, the number XIII was inked to show her disbelief in superstition, and the date May 13, 1940, was tattooed in 2009. It was the day when ‘Winston Churchill’ gave the famous speech,

I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.”

7. ‘Arabic Language’ Tattoo

Angelina-Jolie's strength of will tattoo

Tattoo: ‘Arabic Language’ Tattoo on her right forearm.

Meaning: This is another cover-up tattoo that was inked to cover a matching ‘abstract’ tattoo that Angelina got when she was with her ex-husband Billy Bob. The word ‘determination’ in Arabic script is inked on her right forearm and according to Jolie it means ‘strength of will.’

angelina jolie-abstract tattoo

Angelina Jolie’s ‘abstract’ tattoo is now covered with ‘Arabic Language’ tattoo

8. ‘Geographical Coordinates’ Tattoo

angelina jolie-geographical coordinates tattoo

Tattoo: ‘Geographical Coordinates’ Tattoo

Meaning: Earlier, Angelina Jolie had a dragon tattoo with her ex-husband Billy Bob’s name inked on her left arm.  The Billy Bob tattoo was lasered off in 2003 when they officially got divorced. After her ex-husband’s name was removed, she made a public statement. 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.”

Later, Angelina got inked the coordinates of the birthplaces of her children at the same place.

A set of the seventh coordinate was also added in 2011 which is supposed to be Brad Pitt’s birthplace.

angelina jolie 7 coordinates

Angelina added the seventh coordinate in 2011 about Brad Pitt’s birthplace

angelina_jolie billy bob tattoo

Angelina had a dragon tattoo with her ex-husband Billy Bob’s name on it which she had got it removed with laser treatment

9. ‘A PRAYER FOR THE WILD AT HEART KEPT IN CAGES’ Tattoo 

A prayer for the wild tattoo

Tattoo: ‘A PRAYER FOR THE WILD AT HEART KEPT IN CAGES’ Tattoo on her left arm.

Meaning: This tattoo is inked about the subtitle of Tennessee Williams’ 1941 play ‘Stairs to the Roof.’ In an interview, Angelina made a statement regarding this tattoo. She said,

I don’t think I know one person who I think can be completely who they are, every second of the day, who feels completely free… So it’s kind of a prayer for everybody to find their happiness, to break out… Anything that makes us comfortable, those things are cages around us.”

She got this tattoo inked in the presence of her mother who died in January 2007, after battling for almost 8 years with ovarian and breast cancer.

10. ‘H’ Tattoo

angelina jolie's 'H' tattoo

Tattoo: ‘H’ Tattoo near her left wrist.

Meaning: Angelina got rune style ‘H’ tattoo which is a tribute to her brother, James Haven. Some also speculated that the tattoo was for her ex-boyfriend Timothy Hutton. Still, no public confirmation regarding this tattoo has been made by Jolie.

11. ‘M’ Tattoo

Angelina Jolie tattoo letter M

Tattoo: ‘M’ Tattoo on her right palm.

Meaning: Another letter ‘M’ is inked on the palm of Angelina’s hand and is a tribute to her mother Marcheline Bertrand, who died in January 2007, after battling with breast and ovarian cancer for almost eight years.

12. ‘Whiskey Bravo’ Tattoo

whiskey bravo tattoo angelena-jolie

Tattoo: ‘Whiskey Bravo’ Tattoo on her inner right thigh.

Meaning: Whiskey Bravo represents Brad Pitt’s initials. Both Angelina and Brad Pitt are licensed pilots and Whiskey Bravo are Brad Pitt’s initials in the aviation alphabet.

13. ‘Yant Kraw Petch (Diamond Armour)’ Tattoo

angelina jolie-Yant Kraw Petch (Diamond Armour) tattoo

Tattoo: ‘Yant Kraw Petch (Diamond Armour)’ Tattoo on the right side of her back.

Meaning: This is a Buddhist Yant tattoo which is done by the Thai monk, Ajarn Noo Kanpai who especially flew from Bangkok to Cambodia to tattoo Angelia. Angelina was there in Cambodia for the shoot of her film. This tattoo describes the powerful virtues of Buddha that bring good luck, wealth, progress, and success in a career. This also wards off evil spirits and protects during the bad times of life.

14. ‘Yant ViHan Pha Chad Sada’ Tattoo

angelina jolie-Yant ViHan Pha Chad Sada tattoo

Tattoo: ‘Yant ViHan Pha Chad Sada’ Tattoo on the center of her back.

Meaning: The Thai monk Ajarn Noo Kanpai flew from Bangkok to Cambodia to ink this tattoo on Angelina’s back. This tattoo consists of two Yants with magical texts the meaning of which is only known to Ajarn Noo. Not only this, but he had also inked a Buddhist symbol on the stomach of Brad Pitt using the same ink. These Buddhist tattoos on Angelina and Brad were inked to symbolically bind them as husband and wife. However, the couple got separated in September 2016.

15. ‘Buddhist Swirls’ Tattoo

angelina jolie-buddhist swirl tattoo

Tattoo: ‘Buddhist Swirls’ Tattoo on her left forearm.

Meaning: Angelina got this tattoo inked to ward off evil and to bring protection, blessings, and good luck.

16. ‘Persian’ Tattoo

angelina jolie-persian tattoo

Tattoo: ‘Persian’ Tattoo on her right forearm.

Meaning: This tattoo is a beautiful line from the divine poem of the Persian poet Rumi. It says,

There exists a field, beyond all notions of right and wrong. I will meet you there.”

17. ‘Tribal Pattern’ Tattoo 

angelina jolie-tribal pattern tattoo

Tattoo: ‘Tribal Pattern’ Tattoo on her lower back and right hip.

Meaning: Tribal pattern tattoos have different meanings in different cultures. Generally, they are inked about family, respective cultures, and traditions. Just above her tribal pattern tattoo on her lower back, she had a dragon tattoo which she had covered with the ‘Bengal tiger’ tattoo.

18. ‘Japanese Symbol of Courage’ Tattoo

No picture is available.

Tattoo: A Japanese Symbol of Courage on her body, but the exact location of this tattoo is not known.

Meaning: She got this matching tattoo inked with her ex-husband Johnny Lee Miller. After their split in 1999, she had got this tattoo removed.

19. ‘Energy Waves’ Tattoo

No picture is available.

Tattoo: ‘Energy Waves’ Tattoo just below her navel.

Meaning: This tattoo was done in 1998 by the tattoo artist, Daemon Rowanchilde. However, she had got this tattoo removed.

20. ‘Billy Bob’ Tattoo

No picture is available.

Tattoo: ‘Billy Bob’ Tattoo on her pubic area.

Meaning: No clear piece of information regarding this tattoo is available.

21. ‘Brad Pitt’ Tattoo

No picture is available.

Tattoo: ‘Brad Pitt’ Tattoo on her body, but the exact location of this tattoo is not known.

Meaning: As per the media reports, Angelina got a tattoo about her ex-husband Brad Pitt, but no information regarding this tattoo is available.

22. Abstract Finger Design

Angelina Jolie's palm tattoo

Jolie made an appointment with Mr. K, a renowned tattoo artist at the celebrated Bang Bang Studios in New York City. She had the insides of her fingers adorned with tattoos featuring an abstract design of a dagger.

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