There’s something especially beautiful about embracing tattoos later in life. Take Dame Helen Mirren, for instance. The actress is already known to defy age conventions—people refer to her as ‘sexy’ so often that she no longer finds it flattering—and now she’s taking it a step further by toying with the idea of new ink. Yes, 74-year-old Helen Mirren wants a second tattoo.
This past Wednesday, during an appearance on the Today Show, Mirren revealed that she got her first tattoo, a hand piece, a while back. “It’s a very old tattoo,” she said of the design. “I got this when only Hell’s Angels had tattoos—and sailors.”
It’s not only impressive that Mirren chose to get a tattoo when the cultural stigma around the art form was so prevalent (tattoos have long been historically linked to crime), but also because of her choice of placement: The hand is known to be an especially painful place to get inked.
Then, when pressed about whether she would consider getting more tattoos now, or even later in life, she said, “Yes I would. It’s a little bit addictive, and I think as I get older I’ll get more tattoos.”
But wait…are tattoos actually addictive?
“Tattoos aren’t addictive, according to the clinical definition of addiction,” according to Healthline. “The American Psychiatric Association defines addiction as a pattern of substance use or behavior that’s not easily controlled and can become compulsive over time,” a paradigm that doesn’t fit with the idea of getting a whole lot of tattoos.
But still, for many people the process can be an incredibly enjoyable experience that they actively try to replicate. And one of the reasons tattoos make us feel good is because of the adrenaline rush. Our body pumps adrenaline during the process to help combat the pain of getting tattooed, and, as Healthline reports, that “adrenaline may be one of the reasons people go back for more tattoos…But there’s no scientific evidence supporting the existence of adrenaline addiction.” So if Helen Mirren wants a second tattoo (or a third or a forth) we fully support her, but it’s certainly not because she has an addiction to ink.
To learn more about Mirren’s appetite for tattoos, watch the whole clip from her interview on the Today Show below.
If you liked our post Helen Mirren Wants a Second Tattoo, Says They’re Addictive—But Are They Really?, make sure to check out The Complete Guide to Post Malone’s Tattoos.