Brad Pitt’s tattoos and their meanings: A complete guide

Brad Pitt has never met a tat he didn’t like.

Although he often covers them up on the red carpet, the Hollywood A-lister is the proud owner of an extensive collection of tattoos, ranging from a 13th-century poem to a sketch of a rhinoceros.

When it comes to his family, the “Ocean’s Eleven” star literally wears his heart on his sleeve, with many of the designs dedicated to his children and his ex-wife, Angelina Jolie.

The ink-happy couple shared a fondness for tattoos, but Jolie told Radio Times in 2014 that her then-husband didn’t want their kids following in their footsteps.

“It’s especially hard for dads and girls,” she said at the time. “For some reason, men get a little more sensitive when the daughter gets a tattoo.”

While he might not want his girls to get inked up, Pitt has certainly paid plenty of visits to the tattoo parlor over the years. Below, we take a look at some of his most notable designs and explore their meanings.

“Absurdities de l’ existence,” Ötzi the Iceman and “Invictus”

On his left forearm, the “Seven” star has one of his first tattoos: a French phrase that translates to “life is absurd.”

Years later, Pitt added a tattoo of the world’s oldest mummy, Ötzi the Iceman, to the left of the saying. And underneath that sketch, the “Fight Club” star has the word “Invictus” (meaning “unconquerable” or “undefeated” in Latin) inked in bold capital letters.

Family initials

A long, thin vertical line is tattooed up Pitt’s right arm, intersecting with a horizontal line just below his wrist to form a cross. The letter “A,” for Angelina, is inked on the left side of the cross, and on the right, he has the initials of all six of their children: “M” for Maddox, “P” for Pax, “Z” for Zahara, “S” for Shiloh, “K” for Knox and “V” for Vivienne.

Angelina Jolie’s birthdate

The “Meet Joe Black” actor has his ex’s birthday inked on his lower abdomen in Khmer — the official language of Cambodia, where Maddox was born. He revealed the tattoo tribute while waving to fans in 2014.

“Alpha” and “Omega”

Pitt flashed his lower abs again during a July 2022 photocall for “Bullet Train” — and while his ex-wife’s birthday appeared to have been lasered off, his “Alpha” and “Omega” designs were still intact. In Christianity, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet are used to denote God’s comprehensiveness.

Motorcycle

The noted motorcycle enthusiast, who owns an impressive collection of bikes, got one added to his upper arm in black and white.

Angelina’s doodles

The ink on the actor’s lower back might look like a bunch of random lines, but Jolie reportedly drew the designs herself, after which Pitt had them permanently marked.

Rumi poem and shadow man

A 13th-century Persian mystic poet might be an unlikely source of inspiration for body art, but before his 2014 wedding to Jolie, Pitt had the English translation of a text by Jalal al-Din Mohammad ibn Balkhi — aka Rumi — tattooed on the inside of his right bicep. It reads, “There exists a field, beyond all notions of right and wrong. I will meet you there.”

Next to the Rumi poem, he has the black silhouette of a man standing above his shadow.

Tornado

Although his other back tattoos are hard to make out — some appear to be stick figures — Pitt has a black sketch of a tornado on his left hip.

Skull and rhinoceros

Pitt made headlines when he rocked a skirt to the Berlin premiere of “Bullet Train” in July 2022 — but along with showing off some leg, he also revealed two seemingly new tattoos. The outline of a rhinoceros head is sketched on one leg, and a human skull in the same style on the other.