Dennis Rodman is one of those celebrities where almost every story about him feels like it came from Mad Libs or a particularly demented AI. (Remember how he was buddy buddy with Kim Jong Un??) He’s dating an artist and model named Yella Yella who appears considerably younger than he is (he’s 62). And he decided to get a giant tattoo of her–on his face. I guess he thinks she’s the one?
It’s no big deal to Rodman: The NBA great took to Instagram on Friday to share that he got the face of his girlfriend, Yella Yella, tattooed on his right cheek. It’s prime real estate on his face, for sure. But the gesture was no big deal for the five-time NBA champion. In fact, when he took to Instagram to post a snippet of the tat sesh, Rodman’s caption read, “WHY NOT 🤷🏾‍♂️.”
His girlfriend wasn’t down for it at first: Yella Yella, who is an aspiring artist, actually wasn’t down with the tat at all. At least not at first. The former Chicago Bull star told TMZ Sports that his girlfriend wasn’t the one who pushed him into getting the new ink. “I actually told him not to do it,” she told the outlet. “I’m like, ‘What’re you doing!'”
Why he did it: As for why, the 62-year-old said that “this is my last dance with a woman,” a reference to the ESPN documentary, The Last Dance. While Rodman — famous for his ink-covered body and eclectic hairstyle — and his girlfriend ultimately were happy with the result, the same could not be said when it comes to how his fans feel about the whole thing. One fan commented on Rodman’s post, “The tattoo artists need be put in jail for agreeing and doing a terrible job.”
He already has a lot of ink but I’m sure there were better places for this tattoo than his face. I don’t have any tattoos but I know that many tattoo artists won’t do neck or face tattoos on principle. (Of course, there are exceptions like tribal tattoos, but that’s not what I’m talking about.) I also feel like if his girlfriend didn’t want her likeness tattooed on his face, that counts for something and he should have listened to her. It’s a big commitment to put someone else’s face or name on your body. It shouldn’t be a casual Friday type of thing. It feels like it could also have a controlling component to it, but that’s just my opinion.
photos via Instagram and screenshots from YouTube
He’s such an entertaining weirdo. When he was playing you rarely saw tattoos or funny colored hair on pro athletes. I’ve always found what he gets up to extremely amusing to watch. Didn’t he used to date Carmen Electra?
I’m pretty sure they got married, but it was annulled because he was so drunk at the ceremony he could barely stand or speak.
Not a good idea. Ever.
Tattoo artists should refuse to do face tats, IMO.
Tat laser removal on a face would be painful I would think. More than other places.
Dennis Rodman is a fella who really rolls however he wants, in so many ways, for years.
Former NBA/NFL stars rarely age well, IMO.
But at 61, I can say aging is not easy on the ego.
I think he was actually married to Carmen Electra for like 4 days or something?
That’ll age well.
Nothing like being an artist and having sex with your boyfriend while looking at a bad artistic drawing of your own face on his face.
Seriously! I couldn’t do it. Then again, I’ve never been into the kind of guys who would get face tattoos. I don’t even care for body tattoos, to be candid.
Most face tattoos seem like an unstable person’s tortured cry for help. Didn’t Aaron Carter get a massive face tattoo shortly before he OD’d?
In Michael Jordan’s s doc, The Last Dance, you got to see what a talented athlete Dennis was, but one who marched to his own drumbeat. I heard that he’s not a Hall of Famer because of his off-court antics, which is really a shame. Give the man his due. No to the face tat, of course. He was really a looker back in the day!