Machine Gun Kelly has opened up about the shocking toll of one of his most extreme body transformations, revealing that his blackout tattoos led to severe medical complications.
The rapper and musician made the candid admission in a recent exclusive cover story interview, revealing that the grueling tattoo project left him alarmingly “sick.”
Highlights
- Machine Gun Kelly revealed that his massive blackout tattoo left him with severe medical complications and a painful ordeal.
- Medical experts weighed in after the rapper's candid confession, warning that certain post-tattoo complications should never be ignored.
- One specialist cautioned that some reactions “can be a sign of jaundice,” while another highlighted a concerning cancer risk linked to blackout tattoos.
His confession immediately sparked concern among fans, many of whom were stunned by the frightening medical consequences hidden behind the striking ink.
One concerned fan wrote, “Seriously, what an experience - I've never heard of tattoos causing physical reactions like that!”
Machine Gun Kelly's massive blackout upper-body tattoo resulted in a series of alarming medical complications
Image credits: roxx_____/Billboard Canada
In February 2024, Machine Gun Kelly officially unveiled his massive upper-body blackout tattoo by posting a photo of the finished blackwork on Instagram with the caption, “For spiritual purposes only.”
While the tattoo appeared impressive and unique to his followers, the behind-the-scenes toll it took on the rapper was immense.
In an exclusive cover story interview with Billboard Canada, published on Monday, June 8, MGK opened up about the severe physical complications he experienced during the tattooing process.
The extensive interview marked several major milestones in his music career, sobriety journey, and personal life.
Image credits: roxx_____/Billboard Canada
During the conversation, MGK revealed that he got the blackout tattoo as a spiritual purge to erase painful memories, explaining that by late 2023, he felt deeply disconnected from his appearance.
The Home singer shared, “The same way I was reinventing my sound, I wanted to reinvent my body.”
He said his body had become a journal scribbled with heavy history. Looking at his old ink, he saw constant reminders of “d**th and dr*gs,” representing chaotic chapters of his life that he no longer wanted to revisit.
Before getting the blackout tattoo, Kelly had more than 100 individual tattoos covering nearly every inch of his body.
To erase those memories, he reached out to celebrity tattoo artist ROXX, who warned him that densely packing that much black ink across his arms, chest, and stomach would be a massive undertaking.
She proposed a safer two-year timeline, which the 36-year-old rapper recalled, saying, “She warned me that it was going to be near impossible, even from a pain tolerance standpoint.”
However, he pushed back, telling her, “Yeah, we got two months,” as he was in the middle of shifting his musical direction back toward hip-hop and refused to wait years for his appearance to align with his new era.
The initial blackout tattoo took 13 sessions to complete. Each session lasted approximately six hours and was squeezed into a compressed two-month window.
Medical experts weigh in on the warning signs to watch for in cases similar to the 36-year-old rapper's experience
Image credits: machinegunkelly/Instagram
As a result of the accelerated timeline, Kelly said he began experiencing serious complications just one week into the tattooing process.
“We hit my lymph nodes around my armpits and shoulders, and I got really sick,” he revealed. “My skin was turning yellow. I wasn’t able to sleep. I stopped being able to move certain parts of my upper body.”
Kelly’s skin turned yellow as his body was completely overwhelmed while trying to filter out the massive amounts of heavy ink pigment injected day after day.
Dr. Monica Li, a Double Board-certified Dermatologist and Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia, shared with Bored Panda that “repeated sessions over a short period may overwhelm the skin healing responses due to the extensive micro-injuries that are caused on the skin surface.”
Image credits: machinegunkelly/Instagram
How that repeated injury can lead to severe symptoms, she added, “Tattoo pigment is viewed as an exogenous material, which the liver may attempt to process, causing it to be strained, impairing its normal physiologic function, leading to the accumulation of bilirubin that reflects as yellowing of the skin, medically known as jaundice.”
Prof. Dr. Fuat, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Turkey, echoed the same, saying, “Yellowing of the skin can be a sign of jaundice, which may indicate an underlying liver or biliary problem rather than a routine healing reaction.”
“Anyone experiencing this symptom, particularly alongside fatigue or other systemic symptoms, should seek prompt medical assessment.”
Image credits: Ethan Miller/Getty Images / machinegunkelly/Instagram
According to Dr. Fuat, getting blackout tattoos like Kelly's “can place considerable demands on the body's repair mechanisms, as inflammation, tissue recovery, and skin regeneration are all taking place simultaneously across a large surface area.”
“The larger the area involved, the greater the physiological burden may be in some individuals.”
Confirming the symptoms experienced by the Bad Things singer, Dr. Monica shared that “this is possible,” and in cases where the process causes a “localized skin infection, there is a chance that this could spread in the body,” leading to symptoms like fatigue, malaise, or even flu-like symptoms.
Reacting to MGK’s candid confession, one netizen wrote online, “Skin is the body's largest organ. You put that much ink into such a vital system what do you expect?”
As Kelly struggled with yellowing skin, a double board-certified dermatologist warned that it “can be a sign of jaundice”
Image credits: Zamrznuti tonovi/Adobe Stock (Not the actual photo)
Another added, “I can't imagine the long-term effects of what that will do to his health.”
“Maybe a small blackout to cover an unwanted tattoo like my buddy got but this is just insanity for real,” commented a third.
One dermatology nurse wrote, “Hope he never has a melanoma, you won’t be able to see it.”
“He lost himself… Pretty sure. He has lead p**soning from the ink. Why not just do what Pete [Davidson] did and get them removed.”
Despite the complications, the artist pushed through and pursued the drastic transformation as a physical and mental “reset.”
Image credits: Tone Sabro
He told the outlet, “I came out the other side extremely inspired. Not just because of what I had done, but because of what I had to overcome.”
While Kelly’s tattoo side effects eventually healed, both experts, Dr. Li and Dr. Fuat, issued a warning about when to seek prompt medical assistance and not to ignore certain warning signs from the body.
“Progressive redness, increasing swelling, worsening pain, discharge, fever, chills, or symptoms that continue to deteriorate rather than improve should all prompt medical assessment,” Dr. Fuat warned.
Blackout tattoos also pose a serious risk, as signs of skin cancer may go unnoticed due to the dark ink covering the skin's surface
Image credits: thodonal/Adobe Stock (Not the actual photo)
Further concerning symptoms, as per Dr. Monica, include: “yellowing of the whites (sclera) of the eyes, dark urine, pale stools, right upper abdominal discomfort or pain, profound loss of appetite, generalized itchiness, and extreme fatigue.”
Moreover, covering large parts of skin in dark skin “may hinder picking up or monitoring of new worrisome skin lesions, including skin cancer.”
She concluded, “Tattoo pigment itself may alter the appearance and makeup of existing skin lesions, so it is generally not recommended to tattoo over them.”
Image credits: IMPAULSIVE/YouTube
“When large areas of skin are heavily covered, visual assessment can become more difficult,” Dr. Fuat said. “Individuals with extensive body coverage should continue monitoring their skin and seek professional assessment if they notice any new lumps, persistent irritation, ulceration, bleeding, or evolving lesions.”
Multiple media outlets reported previously that, to help combat these extreme complications and support the healing process, MGK used a hyperbaric oxygen chamber as part of his recovery.
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, a hyperbaric oxygen chamber is a specialized, sealed medical enclosure that “exposes the body to 100% oxygen at pressures greater than normal” atmospheric levels.
Image credits: machinegunkelly/Instagram
The increased air pressure allows high levels of oxygen to enter the bloodstream, tissues, and body fluids, helping deliver oxygen to areas with poor circulation and promoting healing.
The massive blackout tattoo covered roughly 70% of MGK’s previous ink, completely obscuring dozens of his most recognizable tattoos across his arms, chest, shoulders, and stomach.
However, some of his original tattoos on his legs, back, neck, face, and lower stomach remain visible.
“He lost himself… Pretty sure he has lead poisoning from the ink…,” wrote one concerned social media user
