Dennis Rodman and Yella Yella. Shutterstock; Courtesy of Yella Yella/Instagram
Dennis Rodman is making his love for girlfriend Yella Yella permanent — with a face tattoo.
“Hey guys, today’s gonna be an interesting and exciting day. Dennis said he wanted to get a tattoo, but not just any tattoo,” Yella Yella, 31, revealed in a YouTube video that was uploaded on Saturday, July 8. “It’s kind of scary for me because I don’t like needles and just to watch it because he’s saying he wants to get a tattoo on his face.”
She added: “Yeah, we all know Dennis Rodman: bad boy, tattoos everywhere, but it’s kind of different because it’s actually going on his face.”
The NBA icon, 62, later revealed to his girlfriend that he planned to ink a portrait of her face on his cheek.
“I actually told him not to do it. I’m like, ‘What’re you doing?’” she recalled to TMZ Sports on Saturday. “He’s crazy, he’s a wild boy.”
Rodman, for his part, told the outlet that he wanted to do something special for the woman he loves. “This is my last dance with a woman,” the former Chicago Bulls athlete gushed to the outlet. “She’s very lovely. And I thank her for loving me the way I am — and that’s why I did it for her.”
Dennis Rodman and Yella Yella. Courtesy of Yella Yella/Instagram
Rodman entrusted Chicago-based tattoo artist Van Johnson to complete the masterpiece. “I got the legend himself right here in my home and we’re doing a tattoo of his wife on his face,” Johnson explained in the couple’s YouTube video, though it is not known if they legally tied the knot. “Like, a face portrait on his face. Pray for me because this is something that I can’t mess up.”
After Johnson completed the tattoo, the couple were pleased with his handiwork.
“It was supposed to be way bigger but they made it smaller,” Yella Yella — who is a rap star and a model — told TMZ. “But, that’s cute!”
Rodman chimed in: “It’s real as f—k!”
Rodman has an expansive collection of tattoos across his body, including ink covering his chest, abdomen, arms and back.
“When I was doing tattoos before anybody thought about doing tattoos, I was going to David Stern’s office in New York, and he said, ‘If you do any more tattoos, I’m gonna kick you out,’” Rodman told Kevin Hart during a November 2019 episode of Cold as Balls, referring to the late commissioner of the NBA. “I was like, ‘What?!?!’ So basically, that just fueled the fire right there. I said OK, great, I went and got a tattoo that night, and then I just kept getting tattoos and piercings, kept doing my thing.”
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Eventually, the NBA realized that the fans were intrigued by Rodman’s tattoos and came around to support him. “Back then, guys didn’t have tattoos, guys didn’t have piercings, guys didn’t say what they want to say,” he added at the time. “If they did say what they wanna say, all of a sudden, they pay a fine for it. For me, it’s more like, ‘Whatever guys, take it or leave it.’”