Julia Gnuse never set out to become the world’s most tattooed woman, she just ended up that way. Ms. Gnuse, also called The Illustrated Woman, inked and needled her way into a Guinness World Record after having 95% of her body covered up with tattoos. She did this to cover up scarring from a medical condition called porphyria. Basically, she blisters when hit by the sun. The blisters fade into scars, so to hide the scars, Julia covered the scars with a tattoo. From there, she was hooked.
“I had a friend who is a plastic surgeon, who suggested tattooing my skin to the same colour to the scarring that I had, seeing if we could match my pale-looking skin that I had,” said Ms. Gnuse. “That didn’t work… so I had the idea of a colourful tattoo. Then I got hooked. I got addicted.”
While we have seen some unusual tattoos here at PopFi, from the eyeball tattoo to the fake mustache and soul patch combo, Ms. Gnuse might just be the most unusual of the bunch. All her work has been done by the same artist. Among the images on her body are Ginger Rogers, Fred Flintstone, and the entire cast of the Beverly Hillbillies! That’s both crazy and awesome at the same time!
Tags: the Illustrated Woman, world’s most tattooed woman, woman is covered with tattoos, Julia Gnuse, 95 percent of woman’s body is covered with tattoos, unusual medical conditions, porphyria, Guinness World Records