Aaron Carter surprised his Instagram followers on Saturday, September 28, when he posted a photo revealing a massive face tattoo of Rihanna dressed as the Greek mythology creature Medusa. Less than a week later, his tattoo artist, Herchell L Carrasco (@rockrollg on Instagram) revealed extra details about the tattoo session — including that the star wanted even more ink.
The celebrity tattoo artist spoke to TMZ to explain the story behind Carter’s $5,000 appointment. Apparently, Carter hadn’t mentioned that he was yearning for a face tattoo when Carrasco arrived at the star’s home in Los Angeles. Carrasco simply thought he was there to upgrade Carter’s torso designs. Instead, the singer insisted upon the face tattoo, inspired by Rihanna’s Medusa-inspired cover shoot from 2013.
Together, the two decided to focus on just the side of his face. After finishing the large Rihanna-inspired design, Carter convinced him to add a “love” tattoo under his eye because that’s currently “his brand.” And then, the artist added a crescent moon to the other side of Carter’s face, before deciding it was time to be done for the day.
At that point, Carter was still asking for more. The artist said, “[He] wanted to keep going and I had to stop him. I couldn’t cover his whole face in a tattoo. I just couldn’t.”
As for Carter’s mental state, the songwriter opened up about his battle with mental health issues during an interview on The Doctors in September, revealing that he’s been diagnosed with “multiple personality disorder, schizophrenia, acute anxiety and manic depression,” along with the medications to keep it under control. But right before Carter got the face tattoo, his brother, Nick Carter, filed a restraining order against him after claiming that Aaron made comments about wanting to harm his wife and unborn child.
“Before I tattoo anyone, I take into consideration their mental state,” explained Carrasco. “In Aaron’s case, I assessed the situation and I genuinely felt he was in a good place mentally to get tattooed.”
The singer seemingly has no regrets. When Carter posted news of the tat on Instagram, he left an emphatic caption, “I’M THE BIGGEST THING IN MUSIC RIGHT NOW. I CAN’T BE DENIED. FACT CHECK ME.”
