Machine Gun Kelly reveals scary side effects of massive blackout tattoo: &x27;My skin was turning yellow&x27; Emlyn TravisWed, June 10, 2026 at 5:48 PM UTC 0 Machine Gun KellyCredit: Machine Gun Kelly/InstagramKey Points MGK says he "got really sick" while getting his blackout tattoo done in just two months. The "times of my life" singer said he struggled to sleep and his skin turned yellow during the process. Still, he says he left the experience inspired "not just because of what I had done, but because of what I had to overcome.
Machine Gun Kelly reveals scary side effects of massive blackout tattoo: 'My skin was turning yellow'
Emlyn TravisWed, June 10, 2026 at 5:48 PM UTC
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Machine Gun KellyCredit: Machine Gun Kelly/InstagramKey Points -
MGK says he "got really sick" while getting his blackout tattoo done in just two months.
The "times of my life" singer said he struggled to sleep and his skin turned yellow during the process.
Still, he says he left the experience inspired "not just because of what I had done, but because of what I had to overcome."
MGK is looking back at the surprising side effects he experienced while getting his blackout tattoo.
The "forget me too" singer, 36, revealed in a recent Billboard Canada interview that he "got really sick" while getting the piece done — which encompasses almost the entirety of his arms, chest, and stomach — over the course of just two months.
"After the first week, we hit my lymph nodes around my armpits and shoulders, and I got really sick," MGK told the outlet. "My skin was turning yellow. I wasn't able to sleep. I stopped being able to move certain parts of my upper body."
Machine Gun Kelly performing in Auckland last AprilCredit: Dave Simpson/WireImage
The musician noted that his tattoo artist, Roxx, had told him that pieces this large usually take around two years to complete. However, he ultimately went against her advice.
"She warned me that it was going to be near impossible, even from a pain tolerance standpoint," he said. "I said, 'Yeah, we got two months.'"
Although it was painful, MGK said that the experience of getting the tattoo left him feeling "extremely inspired," adding, "Not just because of what I had done, but because of what I had to overcome."
The rocker has spoken about his ink in the past, telling Logan Paul on an Aug. 2024 episode of his Impaulsive podcast that getting a blackout tattoo was "the most excruciating thing" he'd done in his life.
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"There was a point where I, like, gave up and I just felt like I was just dying," MGK confessed at the time, noting that he would get tattooed for six or seven hours every single day.
He added that the process felt even worse because his "body was already tattooed" underneath the blackout, "so essentially you're just tattooing over scar tissue."
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"There was a point on that table where I just was… I felt my body leave my body. Cause what can you do? You can't stop. You have to finish the job," he said. "I just gave up and gave my body to the Gods and was just like. 'All right, hit me.'"
When visiting The Jennifer Hudson Show last September, MGK said that he wanted to "redesign what the human skin could look like" with the tattoo.
"A friend of mine with Roxx came up with this, but it was the worst torture… I mean, I don't do the going under and numbing and waking up," he said. "I don't do any of that, so I had to thug this out. Big mistake, but my morals stand."
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: "AOL Entertainment"
Source: Entertainment
Published: June 10, 2026 at 09:09PM on Source: RON MAG
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