Kat Von D became a household name after starring in the tattoo reality show Miami Ink, and
later went on to star in her own show LA Ink.
"I treat every tattoo as, you know, the best tattoo that I'm ever going to do."
With a reported net worth of $14 million, Von D's life began humbly enough…so how
did she get where she is today?
One thing's for sure: Katherine von Drachenberg has come a long way.
"Tattooing is my life, and business is booming."
She was born on March 8th, 1982, in the tiny town of Montemorelos, Mexico.
The daughter of Argentinian immigrants, she spent her early years with no running water
or electricity.
In an article she wrote for PopSugar, Von D revealed:
"My Dad came from a long line of missionary doctors, and when it became evident that Montemorelos
was in need of a hospital, that became his mission."
Elsewhere in the article, Von D writes:
"One of my first memories as a kid was running around barefoot on the packed dirt we had
for floors...And, in fact, one of my favorite photos from our family album is one of me
taking a bath in a plastic bucket!
Let's put it this way, in this town, you were more likely to see a horse than you would
a car."
Kat was clearly fond of that time in her life.
In a post on her Instagram page, she wrote:
"The handful of memories from the time we lived there are few, but vivid.
But I can confidently say they were some of the happiest times of my life."
Kat Von D has always felt like an outsider.
"I've been an easy target since I was in school just 'cause I looked different, y'know?"
In 1998, when she was 6 years old, Kat Von D, her parents, and her two siblings relocated
from Mexico to San Bernardino County in Southern California.
They lived in Loma Linda, a town known for its Seventh Day Adventist population.
In her PopSugar article, Von D recalled:
"Many people [have] never heard of that religion; it's basically Christianity, with a few Jewish
traits.
We kept the Sabbath, went to church on Saturdays, followed the ten commandments, and didn't
eat any pork or fish without scales (don't ask)."
Even though Von D only knew Spanish at the time, she quickly became bilingual.
As she explains it:
"At some point, somewhere between church and school, my parents said we came back knowing
how to speak English.
But at home, we only really spoke our mixture of Mexican and Argentinian Spanish."
According to The Fix, Von D started playing piano that year, and trained to be a classical
pianist.
As she told Mario Lopez in 2014:
Her artistic training had officially begun!
As Kat Von D moved into adolescence, she started drifting away from her parents' way of life.
In her early teens, she became interested in forms of self-expression that gave her
parents quite the shock.
In a 2008 interview with PR.com, she said,
"I think when I started getting tattoos it was really scary for them...I had a Mohawk and I was fourteen when I stopped going to school."
In a 2014 interview with Mario Lopez, she revealed,
"It was really hard for them, like, you know, like, I had a Mohawk, and they were just like,
'Oh my god, the devil's taking over!'
You know?
Like, they had no idea what it was."
But following her heart clearly worked out.
As she told PR.com:
"It was kind of scary for them, but a decade later, and a TV show later…whatever it takes
to make them understand where I'm coming from.
Now they can actually come into the shop and feel comfortable."
In 2018, Kat Von D even included her mom in a video about her 10 modern-day muses, a testament
to their enduring bond.
"Family is life to me.
I think that I'm fortunate enough to have a good family.
Some people aren't that lucky."
When Kat Von D dropped out of school at 14, it wasn't because she was driftless or troubled.
She simply knew what she wanted to do with her life.
In an interview with The Fix, she revealed:
"I first started tattooing when I was 14 years old, and I got into my first shop when I was
16.
I really felt like it was a luxury to be able to do something that you love."
"Tattooing is something that landed in my lap, and I just gravitate towards it."
All these years later, Von D is still totally committed to her craft.
She explained to The Fix:
"I promised myself back then that I wouldn't allow anything to get in the way of my progress,
including destructive relationships and drama.
I have always put work before my social life."
There wasn't a single reality show focused on the world of tattoos when Miami Ink debuted
on TLC in 2005.
At first, all the artists on the show were men, and TLC execs wanted to change that.
Fortunately, Kat Von D had previously worked for Chris Garver, one of the stars of Miami
Ink, and opportunity came knocking in 2005.
"Hey Ami, do you want to call Kat and see if she wants to come down here or what?"
It was on.
At the time, Von D was a bit of an outlier in the industry because of her gender, which
ultimately worked in her favor.
As she told PR.com:
"There's not that many tattoo artists that are girls and that are also cool and don't
get offended, and who are actually good and have been tattooing a long time.
The network approved me and I flew down there."
Miami Ink proved to be a hit, and the stars of the show became celebrities.
Thanks to her unique style and artistic sensibility, Kat Von D quickly became something of a beauty
icon.
In 2008, opportunity came knocking again: Von D was offered her own makeup line.
As she explained to PR.com,
"I was working on a line with Sephora for quite some time, for about six months, before
it launched.
I love makeup and I've been wearing it since I was a kid."
Von D was something of a misfit growing up…so becoming a beauty icon took some getting used
to.
Hey, it always does.
Meanwhile, her makeup line has proven to be quite the runaway success.
"A lot of people are noticing that obviously Kat Von D Beauty is expanding globally, which,
oh my God, I've been working so hard on making happen."
After several successful seasons on Miami Ink, Kat Von D was finally ready for a change.
You see, there was some workplace drama.
"Not only was I homesick but the friction between Ami and I, like, I just couldn't handle
it."
In an interview with PR.com, she admitted:
"It didn't end up pretty, and it was time for me to go home."
Sounds like she felt like a fish out of water in Miami, too.
As she tells it,
"I'm so used to living in Hollywood where it's totally not a big deal to be tattooed.
To be separated from that and put in South Beach, I got a lot of weird looks in a bathing
suit."
But Von D wasn't done with television, not by a long shot.
In 2007, TLC launched a spin-off show called LA Ink, and Von D was its star.
"I'm opening up my own tattoo shop."
It lasted four years, ultimately wrapping in 2011.
In 2007, Kat Von D decided to get sober, and she couldn't be happier about it.
In an interview with The Fix, she revealed:
"Looking back at my wild drinking days, I really never imagined that I would be excited
about being sober.
When you are on the other side of things, you have such a profoundly different perspective
on life.
On this side, you realize [sobriety is] something to be celebrated."
In a 2012 interview with The Rosie Show, she explained that she mainly got sober for her
career:
"When I realized that drinking was, you know, getting in the way, I woke up one day and
said, 'I don't want to drink anymore,' and I stopped."
As she toldThe Fix,
"During my drinking years, I was acutely aware that I could be operating at a much more proficient
level if I could just eliminate these distractions."
Well, she did eliminate them, and she never looked back.
One of the most exciting episodes of LA Ink aired on February 19th, 2008, when Kat Von
D set out to break a world record.
"I don't know anybody who's set a record, so, like, why not, you know?"
To meet her goal, she'd have to ink a whopping 400 tattoos on 400 different people in 24
hours.
And with only a week to plan for the event, things got crazy.
After a nail-biting 24 hours, Von D managed to complete the 400th tattoo, despite exhaustion,
pain in her hands and back, and some legitimate medical concerns.
With only minutes to spare, she pulled off the record!
Near the end of the episode, she said:
"I'm so tired, but this is probably one of the best feelings I've ever had in my life."
If you're a big Kat Von D fan, you probably know she used to eat meat.
"In the culture that I was brought up in, like, meat was an everyday thing, three times
a day."
But Von D has taken meat off her menu for good.
In a 2018 interview with Vegan Food & Living, she revealed:
"I had been a vegetarian for many years, then about five or six years ago I went vegan after
seeing the documentary Forks Over Knives and I've never looked back.
It was not that hard to do as I'd not been eating animals for so long and then eliminating
all animal products was a natural step."
She also put her money where her mouth is: Kat Von D's makeup line has been 100 percent
vegan and ethically tested for a long time now.
People have been very curious about Kat Von D's high-profile relationships over the years,
and she has quite a list of exes, including Nikki Sixx and Deadmau5.
But it seems Von D finally found her soulmate: In a private ceremony in February 2018, she
married Prayers' frontman Rafael Reyes, also known as Leafar Seyer.
In an Instagram post, she wrote:
"It was a beautiful sacred thing to get married alone, just the two of us, but [we] are looking
forward to planning a ceremony for our close friends+family soon."
The couple finally had a lavish wedding ceremony in June 2018.
As you can see, Von D was wearing a wedding dress that puts Lydia from Beetlejuice to
shame.
"All I can do is promise to love you, to take care of you, to be your partner in parenthood…"
Oh, and about that last bit...
In a 2012 interview with Dr. Drew Pinsky, Kat Von D confessed:
"The funny thing is that I've known since I was seven years old that I was never going
to have kids."
Well, finding love must've changed her mind: In December 2018, she gave birth to her son,
Leafar Von D Reyes.
In the caption of an Instagram post, she wrote:
"Thank you to all our beloved friends+family, fans+followers for your patience in us announcing
his long awaited arrival!"
In June 2018, Kat Von D and Rafael Reyes announced in a now-deleted Instagram post that they
planned to raise their child vegan and without vaccinations.
The admission was met with considerable backlash.
People accused Von D of anti-Semitism, given her ties to ex-boyfriend Jesse James.
There's also the fact that her husband has a swastika tattooed on his neck, a choice
he's defended as being, quote, "apolitical."
Von D was deluged with comments from angry and concerned fans.
In response, she published an 11-minute YouTube video, defending herself and her family and
stating that she's neither an anti-vaxxer nor anti-Semitic.
As for the negative comments, she said:
"The ones that are calling me and my family Nazis, those are the ones that really just
don't sit well with me...I am myself a proud Latina."
There's one thing that will remain a constant in Kat Von D's life: tattoos.
To that end, it seems congratulations are in order.
According to an Instagram post, her shop High Voltage Tattoo celebrated its 12th anniversary
in April 2019.
That's no small feat, especially considering how competitive the industry has become.
Tireless workaholic that she is, Von D kept tattooing long into her pregnancy.
She's clearly committed to her art…so don't expect her to put down that 13-inch needle
anytime soon.
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