Tattoos are one form of art that has fans all around the world. While some prefer to simply stare at cool designs, others waste no time getting their own ink. However, the tattoos they get are typically in areas like arms, back, and legs…the kinds of places that can easily be covered up when it’s time to attend a job interview or work at a corporate job.
One man, though, didn’t want the kinds of ink that could be covered up. Tristan Weigelt is someone who became addicted to tattoos…so addicted, in fact, that he spent a small fortune to cover his entire body. Now, he looks completely unrecognizable and has jeopardized his love life and relationship with his parents, but he won’t stop getting new tats anytime soon.
What is this tattoo fiend’s story, and what does he have to say about his own fantastic transformation? Keep reading to find out!
How this tattoo addict got started
Tristan Weigelt is now the kind of guy who turns heads wherever he goes thanks to the ink covering his entire body. In fact, he has claimed that his friends think walking around with him is the equivalent of walking around with a celebrity thanks to all the attention he gets. Where, though, did the story of his complete transformation really begin?
Back in 2018, Weigelt was living in the United States as a tattoo apprentice. That was the year that he decided to start his body modification journey, and continuing that journey has proven to be very expensive. The New York Post reports that the man ended up spending over $54,000 in order to get all of the ink all over his body.
Weigelt himself doesn’t seem to have any regrets about getting so many tattoos. However, he has been quite upfront about the two people who would absolutely hate what he has done to himself: his parents.
Making his parents angry
One of the funnier things about tattoos is how universal certain experiences and fears are within the community. For example, some get ink done as a display of rebellion against their parents. Sooner rather than later, though, far too many ink aficionados end up asking themselves the scariest of questions: “what if my parents find out about my tattoos?”
There are some parents, of course, who are surprisingly cool with their children getting ink. However, Tristan Weigelt maintains that this is not the case with his own mother. According to a 2022 article from the Mirror, one of Weigelt’s fans asked him on Instagram what his parents thought about the tats and whether he has seen them in person since the transformation (he was born in America but now lives in Copenhagen, Denmark).
Weigelt clarified for the fan that he had not yet been back home but offered a simple prediction for his mother’s reaction. “My mum would hate it, though.”
The tattoos have affected his love life
It’s something of an open secret that many people find tattoos attractive. Because of this, men will sometimes get ink in hopes of winning over ladies. Of course, most of the guys doing this are hoping to impress women with things like tattoo “sleeves” on their arms. The vast majority of tattoo lovers never transform themselves like Tristan Weigelt did, so we couldn’t help but wonder: is his complete transformation helping him land any lucky ladies?
In a word, no. As reported by the Mirror, Weigelt said in an earlier interview, “It scares a lot of women away.” To some degree, this is understandable…the tattoo lover modeled much of his ink after some classic Japanese designs that, while beautiful, make him look a bit monstrous. As such, we could see a young woman being intimidated if such a figure walked up to her in a bar and offered to buy her a drink.
Despite the ink affecting his love life, though, Weigelt confirmed that “apart from that, there hasn’t been any backlash. Most people are really positive.” And when people do stare, he can forgive them because they “are pretty fascinated” with what he has done to his body.
When ink cannot hide the real man
When describing Tristan Weigelt’s brand-new look, it’s impossible not to use words like “transformation.” However, the man himself likely wouldn’t approve of this wording for the simple fact that he doesn’t see himself as transformed. In fact, he doesn’t see himself as different at all.
According to the Mirror, the man had some deep thoughts about how he appears versus who he is. “I’m still the same old me on the inside,” he said. “I certainly don’t feel different inside to what I did back then.” This may surprise those without ink of their own, but most tattoo lovers see the art on their bodies simply as an expression of who they are. This man says he wanted to be fully covered by ink since he got his first tattoo, so we aren’t seeing some all-new Weigelt…instead, we are seeing the man he always wanted to become.
And, love or hate his look, that’s something we can all aspire to: chasing and realizing our craziest dreams.