10+ of Brad Pitt’s Tattoos and Their Meanings

Hollywood icon and beloved actor Brad Pitt always shows up to a red carpet looking sharp in a suit, so a lot of fans might not notice that the actor actually has many tattoos. They are mostly placed on his upper arms, legs, and back. Brad does not show off his tattoo collection often, but over the years, the audience has caught a peek at some of them. Most recently, the actor wore a skirt to a red carpet that let us see even more of his tats.

A lot of people would get a tattoo only if it had a special meaning to them, but since Pitt is quite private about his collection, we might never know his true intentions behind getting every piece of body ink. Some of them are fairly easy to decipher, and some might not even have a meaning behind them and could be just scribbles that the actor thought looked cool. Let’s dive into Brad Pitt’s tattoos and the meaning behind most of them together.

1. Right forearm

Here we can see a tattoo in a shape of a skinny cross and a few letters. The meaning of this one is explicitly clear and can be guessed by fans. The letters are actually initials: A for Angelina and the other 6 are for his kids: M for Maddox, P for Pax, Z for Zahara, S for Shiloh, K for Knox, and V for Vivienne. The letters are organized by the order of the kids’ birthdates.

Some sources say that he covered up the letter “A” in late 2019 and turned it into a drawing of a star instead.

2. Left inner forearm

Here, Brad has a tattoo of Ötzi the Iceman, an ancient man whose mummy was found in 1991 in Europe. The story of Ötzi is that he was a man who lived around 5000 years ago, he climbed a mountain and died.

He is Europe’s oldest natural mummy. Ötzi fascinates many people, because he is older than the Egyptian pyramids, and since he was never buried and his mummy was naturally preserved by luck, he can be used in a lot of scientific research.

3. More left inner forearm tattoos

Beside Ötzi, Brad has a tattoo in French, which reads “Absurdites de l’existence.” It translates as “absurdities of existence.” It could be a reference to the foreword of the book about the articles created by the journalist Daniel Pearl.

The closing words of the letter, written by his wife, read: “I wish you a good journey through Danny’s writings. It is my sincere hope that his spirit and values will radiate from all of you who he inspires. I hope that, like me, you will be able to laugh with Danny as he navigates you through the absurdites de l’existence.”

On the left side of Ötzi, he has another tattoo, which he had talked about in an interview. It is dedicated to the wildlife of the Ozark Mountains, where he grew up. He said, “I’m quite reverential when it comes to a tree. On my forearm, I had tattooed 94.9 m (311.4 ft) — the height of the largest sequoia.”

Below, his tattoo says “invictus.” It is most likely a reference to the poem by a British poet William Ernest Henley of the same name. The central theme of that poem is bravery and overcoming the hardships a person faces in their life.

4. Right bicep

On his right bicep, Pitt has 2 tattoos. He has a poem by a 13th-century poet Rumi tattooed that reads: “There exists a field, beyond all notions of right and wrong. I will meet you there.”

Some people noted that Brad got this tattoo prior to his wedding to Angelina Jolie, so they think it might be dedicated to her. Others think that it might be related to the actor’s passion for social justice work.

The 2nd tattoo — a drawing of a man right next to the poem — seems to have appeared around 2019. People have theories about what it might mean, including it being a Benjamin Button reference, but the true meaning is known only to Brad Pitt himself. It appears to be a man who is looking at his own shadow.

5. Left bicep

Brad Pitt got a new tattoo in recent years, around 2017, of a motorcycle. It is known that Brad is a huge motorcycle fan and has over 20 models in his collection, so the tattoo symbolizes his passion for the vehicles.

6. Legs

During the premiere of the movie Bullet Train, Brad decided to wear a skirt spontaneously. Because of that decision, more of Brad Pitt’s tattoos have become visible to the audience.

One of them on the right leg looks like a drawing of a rhinoceros, and on his left leg, we can see a human skull. On the back of his right leg, there is most likely a tattoo of an octopus. The rest of the designs are harder to identify.

7. Back

During his first interview after his split from Angelina Jolie, the actor showed off many tattoos that the audience has not seen before. Some of them are on his back, which appears to be heavily tattooed. Brad Pitt appears to have a tattoo that looks like an image of a hurricane near the left side of his back.

He also has a Bob Dylan lyric tattooed above it, which goes: “We live, we die, we know not why, but I’ll be with you”. Some people believe that it had been traced from Angelina Jolie’s handwriting.

To the right side of his back, we can see a drawing of a few lines. It was actually the work of his ex-wife, Angelina Jolie, back in 2010. She gave an interview about it, saying that one night she was bored, so she started drawing lines on his back.

In her words, the scribbles lined up together “beautifully” and enhance the part of Brad’s body that she liked. She said that it was meant to be just a sketch, but he liked it and turned it into a permanent tattoo.

8. Stomach

On his stomach, he has another tattoo he dedicated to his then-wife, Angelina Jolie. We can see the letters that spell “ANG,” and in other pictures, it is also noticeable that Brad has Angelina’s birthdate right next to it.

Brad Pitt does a really good job at hiding his tattoo collection, so it might come as a surprise even to hardcore fans. Quite a few of his designs actually appear to be matching tattoos with Angelina. For example, it is known that Angelina’s back is also covered in tattoos, just like Brad’s.

They got some of the tattoos together in Thailand, and the tattooist claims that he made a design of a Buddhist symbol, which he inked to Brad’s lower stomach, close to the hurricane tattoo. The designs were meant to bind them as husband and wife, but they split up back in 2016.

Brad Pitt himself also spoke a little bit about getting matching tattoos with his former wife back in 2008. During the interview with Oprah Winfrey, he answered a fan’s question about his inkings. He said that getting tattoos is “a great thing to do together with a partner” because “it becomes personal and special in its own right.” He declined to answer any further questions about it, saying he’d rather keep things private.

He covers up his tattoos in movies a lot. As we can see from the screenshot above, a couple of known tattoos are missing — for example, the poem on his bicep. Covering up real tattoos is a standard practice in Hollywood. It is done by applying orange concealer to neutralize the color of the tattoo, and then more makeup is used to make it look like the actor’s skin color.

The total amount of illustrations and scripts the actor has on his skin is unknown, and we highly suspect that this list is incomplete. Not only that, but his collection always appears to be growing — his dedicated fans said that his first tattoo was spotted in 2006, and his latest was spotted in 2022 when he wore a skirt.

Let’s hope in the future we will learn more about his tattoo collection and find out what special meanings the actor has for each of the designs on his skin.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s children are growing up away from the public eye, with some pursuing education and others showing interest in acting and modeling. The couple’s approach to parenting emphasizes privacy and homeschooling.

In a romantic twist, Brad Pitt is enjoying a strong relationship with Swiss jewelry professional Ines de Ramon. The couple, who have been together for over a year, are said to be very much in love and spending quality time together.

Lastly, Jennifer Aniston, once married to Brad Pitt, opens up about her single life and the challenges she faced with pregnancy. Emphasizing self-completeness, she expresses readiness for love but also frustration with the constant rumors, particularly those related to her body and past relationships.

Which of Brad Pitt’s tattoos design do you like the most? Do you have any tattoos yourself?