English actress Dame Helen Mirren, who won an Oscar for The Queen, flaunts a tattoo on her left-hand thumb. And every time she has been asked about it, the evergreen diva has expressed that she was once disgusted with her tattoo and quoted a similar assertion every time—that is: “I got this one when only Hell’s Angels had tattoos.”

However, Mirren no longer finds getting tattoos disgusting, and in recent years, she has even expressed keenness to get a second tattoo.

Mirren Disgusted by the Commercialization of Tattoos

Mirren wanted to do something that she could think of as the most shocking thing she has done in her life. And that was the thought that drove her to get inked, as per her interview on Good Morning America.

The actress also jokingly added that she got her tattoo many years ago when she was "very, very drunk" and “only sailors and Hell's Angels were tattooed.”

Helen Mirren flaunts her thumb tattoo

Helen Mirren flaunts her thumb tattoo. (Photo: NY Daily News)

However, The Queen actress had to go through great pain while getting the tattoo, as it was inked with a safety pin. “It was so painful. Oh my god. Like a prison tattoo,” Mirren said during an interview at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.

But the tattoo was worth the pain because of the loud message it delivered. In the actress’s own words:

It [her thumb tattoo] represents a very beautiful idea which is basically 'equal and opposite', that someone can be as different from you as you could possibly imagine, but have equal value to yourself, that's something I believe in life.

To that point, everything was fine. But times changed, and getting a tattoo became commercialized and “completely mainstream.” And that was unacceptable to the actress—also why she was disgusted by her thumb tattoo at one point. 

Now Looks Forward To Getting Her Second Tattoo

Despite being disgusted by tattoos at one point in her life, the Prime Suspect star somehow still has a soft spot for body ink. Mirren shared that she was looking forward to getting her second tattoo while speaking at the Today show in November 2019.

The actress even went on to add that she might get more tattoos on her body as she gets older, admitting that the process of getting tattoos was a bit addictive.

Previously, Mirren had expressed her interest in getting a full sleeve tattoo in 2016. She told Radio Times, “I’d like a whole sleeve. As you get older, I think it’s a better and better idea.” She further added that she would like to have a curving pattern running up her sleeves, preferably snakes.