A 57 year-old mum who is covered in tattoos has shared unrecognisable pictures from a time before she was inked up.
Lonni Pike got her first tattoo when she was 30 years old and already a mum to two young boys. Since then, she has become a TikTok star, earning more than one million followers on the platform where she shares lifestyle and fashion advice.
The 57-year-old’s aim, as she told the Daily Star, is to encourage others to embrace their differences by sharing videos and pictures of her heavily tattooed figure and passion for style.
READ MORE: ‘I’m 57 and covered in tattoos – people my age don’t understand but I inspire others’
And, during the exclusive interview, Lonni shared old family photos of herself before she had found her true identity.
Looking back on pictures of her younger self, Lonni had some advice for the fresh-faced woman in the photos.
“I would just tell myself to not sweat the small stuff. I was so concerned with fitting the status quo of society that I wasn’t allowing myself to just be free,” she acknowledged.
“Every once in a while it’s okay to break away from the herd and do what you want to do, follow your inner heart.
“I told my boys, ‘life will unfold when you let it unfold. If you have these preconceived notions of how you think life is supposed to be, then you’re going to miss opportunities’.”
During the interview with Daily Star, Lonni admitted that most of her online audience are much younger than her and suggested that this is because older people struggle relating to her story.
But, the influencer suggested that this audience might find that getting a tattoo could be the first step to a new, more radical, lifestyle.
“When I was 30 my marriage was failing, I was just in a very unhealthy marriage and my ex-husband and I separated. I was just sitting there talking to my sister and was like, ‘I want a tattoo, I want to take control of my life and control of my body’,” she recalled.
“So we packed up our kids because she wanted one too, and we found a little outlaw biker shop out in the desert and we got a tattoo.
“I got barbed wire around my ankle, because to me barbed wire represents keeping people in and keeping people out. So I felt trapped in my situation and I felt like I was keeping the world away from me.
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“It’s still there today, and it reminds me of where I was and what I never want to feel like again… I still have my tattoo and not my ex-husband, and the decision was perfect.”
As part of spreading her positive message, Lonni has recently launched a new series on her GrayHairAndTattoos YouTube channel, where she is challenging herself to try new hobbies like roller skating.
And, she emphasised that this new initiative sums up her message: “We can be positive, we can do this, we can wear what we want, we can do whatever we want, so long as we tell ourselves that.”
READ MORE:
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