Jesse James lets his 8 yo daughter tattoo her name on him: sweet or inappropriate?


This is a rare maybe-positive story about Jesse James for once, depending on how you feel about tattooing and letting an eight year-old get close to someone wielding a tattoo needle. Jesse James added a new piece of ink to his body recently. Outlets are claiming that James let his eight year-old daughter, Sunny, tattoo her name on his wrist. The photo makes it look like all Sunny is doing is overseeing the work with a professional tattoo artist, not like she’s personally laying down the ink on her daddy’s wrist. We know about it as Jesse posted the photos to Twitter, including one of Sunny overseeing the ink as well as the final result. Sunny has great penmanship! Here’s the story, from Radar:

Jesse James is covered in tattoos but his eight-year-old daughter Sunny just added another, RadarOnline.com has exclusively learned.

Jesse, 42, won full custody of Sunny in 2009 from ex-wife Janine Lindemulder, who spent time in federal prison for tax evasion, and the two took to some unlikely bonding on Thursday.

“Spending Spring Break with Dad,” Jesse wrote on Twitter, posting a photo of Sunny with an ink gun in her hand.

The finished product is “Sunny” scribbled on Jesse’s wrist — right above the “Pay Up Sucker” tattoo on his palm.

[From Radar]

I have a kid around that age, and I actually found this story somewhat sweet. I’m not a tattoo person, although I have a couple from when I was very young, but I could see getting my kids’ name permanently inked somewhere. I can’t imagine letting him get that close to the process, though. Tattooing is painful and that’s a lot of pressure to put on a little kid. Still, this was her dad’s way of showing Sunny that he cared. Maybe he should have just taken her out to the zoo and for ice cream. She probably would have liked that better.

Oh and people are saying this is a too-revealing shot of an eight year-old. I don’t agree, and I doubt that James even noticed. That’s his little daughter, you know? He’s a philandering a*hole, but he probably loves his kids to pieces and tries to do right by them, as clumsy as his attempts may be.

Jesse wrested custody of Sunny away from her mother, porn star Janine Lindemulder, who has a history of abusing drugs and was jailed for non-payment of taxes in 2008.

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36 Responses to “Jesse James lets his 8 yo daughter tattoo her name on him: sweet or inappropriate?”

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  1. Paloma says:

    This sweet child had such a good chance with Sandra; who knows what will happen now.

  2. Mitch Buchanan Rocks says:

    I wonder if Sandra even sees the child, after they were so close when JJ and SB were together, now they are never seen together, so is that the paps or is that for real.

    • Buffy says:

      I know it’s sad, but I have heard ahe stopped seeing her a few months after they split. I don’t blame her. I know it is never the childs fault and you should always put them first, but he seems like the type that would take advantage of any relationship they might have tried to have. 🙁 Besides, officially she wouldn’t have been a step mom, so really what rights would she have? I agree she would have been such a good infulence on her.

      • Buffy says:

        @Asli I hadn’t heard that, but if it is true good for her for trying and I wish it would have worked! It also shows how much more of a jerk he is because if she did try I would imagine the courts would not say no if the Father was ok with it. 🙁

  3. Deb says:

    I don’t see a thing wrong with it. It’s already no mystery to the kid that Dad has a lot of tattoos. I think a lot of the stigma has gone out of tattoos anyway.
    As for the shot being revealing, the child doesn’t really have anything to reveal. I agree that JJ probably didn’t even notice how low the neckline on Sunny’s top appears to be. I didn’t even notice it until I looked back at the pic after reading the article.

    • Annie says:

      Agreed. In general I think he’s a bastard – but this is kinda sweet. He has soooo many tattoos anyway and probably didn’t mind if Sunny didn’t do it perfect which is cute.

    • Photo Jojo says:

      Agreed. God help me for defending this ass hat – but I know many tattoo artist who have had their kids do the same thing.

  4. MorticiansDoItDeader says:

    Why not just let her write her name on his arm and have the tattoo artist ink over it? You know, like everyone else whose had their child’s signature tattooed on them. Oh, that’s right, because he’s a famewhore and he has to do something sensational to garner as much attention as possible.

    • Jag says:

      It looks like he has a DVD to shill. She’ll realize later that she was being used for the publicity.

      And yes, her top is too low cut, even though she’s just a little girl, imo.

    • Jo 'Mama' Besser says:

      I had assumed that that was what happened.

  5. atlantapug says:

    I thought it was illegal to allow anyone other than a licensed tattoo artist to use a tattoo gun.
    People have gotten in BIG trouble for it.

  6. LadyJane says:

    I think with this poor girl, a bit of amateur tattooing at the age of 8 is the least of her problems, unfortunately.

  7. henderswife says:

    I think it’s fine and kind of sweet. The guys from Jackass get tattoos in speeding vehicles and a lot of people think that is hilarious and acceptable. This actually means something. He will always have that connection with his daughter now.

  8. sarah says:

    Revealing?! WTH, people are sick to even have noticed her top is “revealing”. I think it’s a sweet story. My brother does tats and he let his son “help” on one of his personal tattoos.

  9. The Truth Fairy says:

    Jesse is such a mega-douche. And the mom is so screwed up. That poor kid, hope she makes it out OK.

  10. dorothy says:

    It’s sweet, but still sad thinking that this child is growing up with him. He’s such a douche bag. The best chance this child ever had was with Sandra in her life.

  11. It looks like she’s holding his arm while the artist does the tat.

  12. heyhey says:

    this seems so tailer trash

  13. KHater says:

    It’s called bonding. And as much as I can’t stand him, I think it’s ok. He’s just looking for his face on the cover of a mag again as the good guy.

  14. Rux says:

    In his own strange way, perhaps that is his way of showing her he cares. I would think more profound way would be to get involved in her life, school, sports, PTA, etc. That tatoo is not going to teach her values, growth, love or adaptability.

    I wish that Sandy and him could have come to an arrangement so that she could still be involved in Sunny’s life.

  15. Loralei says:

    Who cares about Jesse James. That’d guy is so friggin weird. I just wonder is Sandra Bullock stayed close with Sunny or if she abandoned her when her and Jesse split up.

  16. INeedANap says:

    I LOVE her face in the picture! She’s concentrating so hard and seems so intense, like she’s thinking “OK I have one shot to do this and I ain’t screwing it up!”

  17. Julie says:

    i still dont get what sandra bullock saw in him. even if he was a faithful guy.

  18. decorative item says:

    For this family it’s fine. It would be wrong to let your kid jump off a high wire, but not if you were raised in a circus. So, it’s all relative.

  19. Disbelieving says:

    It would be a lot sweeter if he hadn’t sold the pictures to Radar Online. Nothing like using your child in your pursuit of fame. Ick. Ick. Ick.

  20. Rio says:

    She’s not actually doing the tattooing– her hand is on the gun, but it’s covered/guided by the actual artist. The name was probably stenciled on first.

    Can’t say I see anything wrong with it, I think it’s a cute idea myself. Not every little girl is into ice cream and princesses.

  21. kimberly says:

    the tat itself is a totally generic, done beyond counting times . . . . old.

    as for her doing the actual tattoo?

    yeah it clearly shows that while her hands are on the gun, HE is working the instruments.

    nothing wrong here.

  22. Anne says:

    Isn’t this against the law?

  23. Bodhi says:

    SHE isn’t tattooing her father, its it very clear from the picture that the tattooist is hold & operating the gun.

    Anyway, I think it is super sweet. My husband has 25+ tattoos. He doesn’t want to get one for our son, because he’d rather get one for all our kids when we are done having them

  24. Beatriz says:

    Jesse obviously has problems and is a douche, but it’s nice to see that this might not translate into his relationship with his daughter (or at least so it seems).

  25. reeda redneck says:

    For this family I see nothing wrong with this.

  26. dahlia1947 says:

    I got pretty uncomfortable when I first saw the pic. I thought “I don’t think her dad should be sitting behind his daughter like that.” :[

    But then when I read that her dad is the one getting the tattoo, then I totally went “EEEEeeeewwwww! Yucky, gross, uncomfortable! What the he^l is wrong with u Jesse? Letting that dude sit behind your daughter like that!!”

    Nasty.

  27. judyjudy says:

    He’s so gross.

  28. Tattoo Sam says:

    Stunning tattoo designs! Do you have any free sample of that stencils?