Bridgerton actor Simone Ashley has shared that she gave herself a tattoo during lockdown after watching a tutorial from a prison inmate.
In an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Monday 28 March, Ashley revealed a tattoo of a sphynx cat on her ankle.
Ashley made her Bridgerton debut in the second season of the popular Regency era-inspired drama, which was released on Friday 25 March.
She portrays Kate Sharma, the elder sister of the Sharma family who have newly arrived in London from India.
Speaking of her tattoo skills on Monday, Ashley told Kimmel she has given tattoos both to herself and people she has worked with after purchasing a kit during lockdown.
“I was in Los Angeles over lockdown in 2020 and I did all the regular stuff, like making banana bread, tie-dying, all of that kind of stuff,” she said.
“I thought it would be a good idea to get my own tattoo pen with the needle, it’s called a rotary pen.”
When asked by Kimmel whether the buying process had been easy, Ashley said she didn’t even need ID and had purchased it online.
The actor said she had sought out tutorials on YouTube, before stumbling across a video which used unconventional methods.
“I found this video and it was like, ‘Oh, I can use this deodorant stick, like as a chemical reaction on the transfer paper and all of the stuff,” she explained.
“And then it started getting a bit deep and I was like, ‘Oh, this guy’s using some really interesting stuff’.”
“And then I looked at the username and it was called prisontattoo.com. I looked at his videos and was like, ‘wow, there is an inmate making videos in prison’. This is a fab idea and then I did it, I followed his instructions.”
Kimmel asked to see her ankle, before declaring that he thought her design looked “like a dog”. “Well keep practicing I guess really,” he joked.
Also, during the appearance, Ashley reflected on attending the Vanity FairOscars party on Sunday evening for the first time.
“It was wonderful, and it was really glamourous,” she said, before sharing one aspect of the evening which is little talked about.
“What was really funny...is these Uber airports at these big events, so if you don’t have a chauffeur or a car waiting for you, you just get an Uber,” she said.
She went on to explain that on one side of the road there is a line of celebrities waiting for their taxis, and the other is lined with fans.
When asked by Kimmel who she had seen in line, she named Billy Porter, Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner.
“I was standing there thinking ‘this is kind of cool’, and there’s these fans on the other side of the road who had hit the jackpot.”
