Kat Von D was many things: A tattoo artist on cable station TLC’s “LA Ink.” A fashion mogul with her own makeup line. A Californian who struck against the grain with her pagan, artistic expressions. How things have changed.
The latest shows her being baptized a Christian in an unnamed church in Indiana in a video posted on her Instagram on Tuesday, Oct. 3.
As inked-up friends of the artist are seen in attendance, Ms. Von D sings before the ceremony, and then a pastor is heard: “I baptize you, my sister, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” He dips her head and white-robed body—tattoos fully concealed—into the pool. She rises and immediately they embrace.
The dramatic metamorphosis isn’t her first but the latest in a series of moral moltings for Ms. Von D in recent years, taking her in a less pagan direction and toward a more traditional one. Her Hispanic parents were Seventh-day Adventist Christians.
Once a fashion magnate partnered with Sephora, her makeup line, Kat Von D, exceeded profitability expectations by vast margins. Then in January 2020, she announced she’d sold all shares in her namesake brand and was no longer involved in any capacity.
In another surprise move, in December 2020 the former TV star left High Voltage Tattoo parlor in LA, announcing she’d bought a home in Indiana. She cited California’s taxes, “terrible policies,” and “tyrannical government” as reasons.
The Mexican native, now 41, once mentioned how she’d discovered punk rock and “subscribed more to the feeling of being free.” That explained the ink sleeves. At the same time, her former product line with her signature eyeliner and red lipstick channeled the witchcraft-inspired aesthetic Ms. Von D had long gravitated toward and became famous for.
In yet another post, in July 2022, Ms. Von D said she was tossing all her books about witchcraft and the macabre, captioning:
I don’t know if any of you have been going through changes in your lives right now, but in the last few years I’ve come to some pretty meaningful realizations—many of them revolving around the fact that I got a lot of things wrong in my past.
By Michael Wing
