Kat Von D | Sobriety, Trauma Recovery, Tattoos, Marriage, Motherhood, Moving to Indiana & More

<p>Kat Von D was born in Nuevo Leon, Mexico.   Her family moved to LA when she was 4 years old.  She starting playing piano at the age of 5, and was inspired by her grandmother to pursue music.  No one in her family drank or did drugs, a very religious family upbringing for her as a kid.</p> <p>When Kat was 13, she discovered punk rock music, and that culture spoke to her.  She always felt like an outcast, and this music made her feel like a part of something.  She shaved her head, started tattooing her friends, and this really scared her parents.  At the age of 15, her parents put her in the Provo Canyon boarding school.  This was the same boarding school that Paris Hilton went to, and suffered abuse.  Kat also suffered abuse herself.   After leaving the school, she starting drinking to deal with the trauma she just went through.</p> <p>Eventually she found herself on the TLC TV series “Miami Ink” for 2 seasons.  She eventually left the show and opened her own tattoo shop, and starred in the series “LA Ink”, where she stayed for four seasons.  Kat’s drinking and partying started to get heavy around this time, and it started to take its toll on her.  She decided to get sober in 2007, during the first season of LA Ink.  She started the process, which was tough at first, but 14 years later, she has stuck with it and is still sober to this day.</p> <p>In 2016, she met her husband Rafael Reyes (AKA Leafar Seyer) who is the main artist in the cholo-goth band Prayers.  She was there for a music video appearance, but they really hit it off personally.  The ended up getting married in 2018, and gave birth to their son later that year.  She’s written 2 books, “High Voltage Tattoo” and “The Tattoo Chronicles”.  She’s also started her own vegan makeup company, with 20% of the proceeds going to Project Chimps, an organization dedicated to providing care for retired research chimpanzees.   Kat is vegan herself, and wanted to make sure her make-up was cruelty free for animals. </p> <p>Now, she’s focusing on her family, fin