Celebrity

Madonna’s New Tattoo Has An Extra Special Meaning

We’re living in a material world, but tattoos are nice, also.

by Rachel Mantock
Madonna
Getty Images

No stranger at the tattoo parlour, Madonna’s latest design may just be her most heartfelt yet. Taking to Instagram, the singer revealed that she has had the word “Maman” (French for “mother”) etched onto her wrist in bright red ink. The design is a tribute to her mother, Madonna Louise Fortin, who died when the singer was just five years old. The new tattoo sits underneath a pre-existing ‘X’ design, referencing her 2019 studio album, Madame X.

In a video posted to social media, Madonna sits in the hot seat at the Lovers & Killers parlour in Brooklyn, New York. She humorously notes: “I can’t put my mother's name, because it's the same as mine. It would look like I put my own damn name on my arm.”

Once the tattoo is in place, she adds, “My mother bled for me, and so I'm bleeding for her. It's a family affair.”

Surprisingly, Madonna only got her first ever tattoo at the end of 2020, at 62-years-old. She had the initials of her six children etched onto her skin. The letters “L R D M S E” represent Lourdes, Rocco, David, Mercy, and twins Stella and Estere. At the time, she gave a nod to her 1984 Like a Virgin hit during an Instagram chat, joking she had been “inked for the very first time.”

In addition to the “X” nod to her album, Madonna also has the Hebrew word for “kissed” tattooed under her children’s initials. A gesture to her spiritual practice Kabbalah, the tattoo completed what she calls her “trilogy of tattoos.”

Earlier this year, it was time for a fourth. A symbol from the Ten Luminous Emanations cover, by Yehuda Ashlag. And yes, she also debuted this one on Instagram. Plus, her son David has a matching tattoo, in the exact same spot, but bigger, per HuffPost.