Hailey Bieber Says She Regrets Getting This “Violent” Tattoo

It's a tale as old as time, or at least tattooing. You get a piece of ink that seems like a great idea at the time, but as the years go by, it starts to feel more like a mistake. Not even celebrities are immune: Hailey Bieber says that, of all her many designs, there's one tattoo she considers a mistake.

In a recent interview with Elle, Bieber talks about her "20-something tattoos," and calls out one particular piece she got in her late teens. Located on her left hand, on the inside of her middle finger, is an etching of a small handgun. "I think at 18, I was like, 'Yeah, that looks cool!'" Bieber says of the tattoo's backstory. "But now, as a 24-year-old, I would never do that. I think guns are violent."

When she first got the tattoo in 2015, it didn't seem like there was much significance behind it other than that Bieber liked the design. "Tbh I don’t know why I have this tattoo...just another story to tell lol. It is what it is," she wrote on Instagram at the time.

The tattoo was inked by artist JonBoy, who Bieber has continued to visit for a number of her tattoos over the years. JonBoy told Refinery29 in 2018 that, out of all of his A-list clients, he's closest to Bieber. "If it weren't for her, I wouldn’t have been tattooing Kendall and Kylie Jenner, Justin [Bieber], or anyone else," he said. "All these celebrities have come to me because Hailey said, 'Yeah, he's chill — go for it.'"

In spite of her regrettable tattoo, the model has been an outspoken advocate against gun violence for years. While co-hosting the 2018 iHeart Radio Music Awards, she wore a black T-shirt with the words "Stoneman Douglas High" to create awareness for the horrific school shooting; she's also supported KROST, the first fashion partner for March for Our Lives.

With over 20 individual tattoos, there's bound to be one or two that Bieber is no longer crazy about. What's most important is that she acknowledges the firearm ink isn't cool — and instead chooses to advocate against gun violence by using her platform however she can.