Celebrities with Body Jewelry

Body piercing has been around since the dawn of time, but it has grown more popular and public over the last few decades. While some fashion historians claim that the popularity of body jewelry has been spurred by celebrities joining in the fun, we contend that the popularity of body jewelry in general and the acceptance of body piercing by mainstream America (and the world) have given celebrities permission to express themselves without fear of being branded undesirable or a rebel. Think we’re wrong? Take a look at which celebs sport body jewelry – and where they’re wearing it.

Body Piercings

Navel piercings are the single most popular piercing outside of ear piercing, and that’s no different among the celebrities. Who do you know that wears a belly ring? How about…

• Alyssa Milano (Charmed)
• Aria Giovanni (model)
• Ayesha Takia (actress)
• Avril Lavigne (singer), who also sports multiple ear piercings
• Beth, a popular Spanish singer from Barcelona, who also sports a lip ring and a nose gem.
• Beyonce, rap artist and singer
• Brittney Spears, pop singing idol sports a belly piercing and multiple ear piercings
• Catherine Bell, co-star of JAG
• Christy Turlington, model, who is said to have started the whole navel ring fad when she strutted her belly jewel on the runway.
• Fiona Apple, singer
• Geri Halliwell of the Spice Girls
• Gillian Anderson, actress
• Gwen Stefani
• Heidi Sorenson, Danish singer
• Janet Jackson, singer, has had her tongue, nipple, and belly button pierced
• Hitomi, Japanese singer
• Jenna Elfman, actress
• Jessica Alba, actress, who also has multiple ear piercings
• Keira Knightley, actress
• Keisha Buchanan of the Sugababes has a navel piercing
• Kelly Clarkson, singer and American Idol, has her navel and nose pierced.
• Lara Dutta, Indian model and actress
• Lindsay Lohan, following the trend with navel and multiple ear piercings
• Madonna, with a navel piercing and a nose gem
• Melissa Joan Hart of Sabrina fame, has a navel piercing
• Meryl Cassie, actress who has appeared on The Tribe, Xena and other series and movies
• Naomi Campbell, model
• Nicole Richie, model
• Niki Appleton, singer from All Saints
• Ophelia Winter, French actress and singer, also has a nose piercing
• Paris Hilton, model and actress
• Princess Zara, the daughter of the UK’s Princess Anne and granddaughter of Queen
• Elizabeth II, also has a tongue piercing
• Tata Young, singer, along with multiple ear piercings
• Teri Hatcher, actress
• Vanessa Warwick, British actress, also has a nose piercing and a Madonna stud
• Whigfield, Danish singer, who also sports a nose jewel

Note that there’s not a single male celebrity listed with a navel piercing. Apparently, only the ladies are brave enough to sport belly jewelry. Among the guys, the most popular piercing seems to be a nipple piercing. The male celebs that sport ringed nipples include:

• Axl Rose of Guns n’ Roses
• Dave Navarro of Jane’s Addiction
• Eric West, singer
• Gerry Connelly, comedian
• Jaye Davidson, actor
• Lars Ulrich, drummer for Metallica
• Lenny Kravitz, singer/musician, also has a nostril piercing
• Tre Cool, drummer of Green Day
• Tommy Lee, Motley Crue’s drummer, has a pierced nipple, several earlobe piercings and a pierced nostril

Facial Piercings

Eyebrows, noses, lips and labrets – facial piercings are also common, especially among singers. Among those that sport facial jewelry are:

• Adina Howard, actress, nose and tongue
• Amy Lee, lead singer of Evanescence, eyebrow
• Anouk, singer, nose
• Christina Steurmer, Austrian actress, lip and eyebrow
• Christina Aguilera, nose, nipple and lip
• Cree Summer, actress, nose
• Crunchy Black, rapper, eyebrow
• Benji Madden, guitarist for Good Charlotte, has several facial piercings
• Billie Joe Armstrong, singer for Green Day, used to have nostril, multiple ear piercings and his tongue pierced
• Davey Havok, singer for AFI, has a lip piercing and large gauge ear piercings
• Flavor Flav, Public Enemy rapper, has a nostril piercing
• Lajon Witherspoon, singer from Sevendust, has a septum piercing
• Tupac Shakur, rapper and actor, had a nose piercing
• Billy Martin, guitarist for guitarist for Good Charlotte, has multiple ear piercing, nostril piercing and lip piercing
• Line Sorenson, Danish actress, labret piercing
• Lisa Bonet, nose piercing
• Lisa Lopes – rapper of TLC, had an eyebrow piercing
• Lorrie Morgan – country singer has a nose piercing
• Mary J Blige – singer, had a nostril piercing
• Mel B – singer of Spice Girls, has a tongue piercing, eyebrow and multiple ear piercings.
• Melanie Chisholm- singer from Spice Girls England has a nose piercing and multiple ear piercings
• Da Brat – rapper, has a nostril piercing
• Diana king- Singer, has multiple ear piercing and a nose piercing
• Dolores O’Riordan – singer – Ireland has multiple ear piercings.
• Easther Bennet- pop/soul singer- England has a nose piercing
• Elisabeth Wurtzley Author USA has a nose piercing.
• Elisabeth Hurley actress and model UK has a nose piercing and multiple ear piercings
• Eva Briegel – singer of German band Juli, has a nose piercing and a lip piercing
• Eve-rapper, had a nose piercing
• Fantasia Barrino-American Idol Winner, has a nose piercing
• Mutya Buena – singer, formerly of the Sugababes, has a tongue piercing, Monroe piercing and a nose piercing
• Mya, singer, nostril
• Paula Cole, singer, nose
• Pink, singer, nipple and nose
• Scarlett Johansson, actress, septum
• Shazney Lewis, British singer, nose and multiple ear
• Sinead O’Conner, singer, nose
• Fergie, singer with the Black Eyed Peas, eyebrow
• Sybil Buck, model, septum, nipple and tongue

Tongue piercing is another of the more popular piercing spots, and there are a handful of celebrities that sport pierced tongues, including:

• The Game, rapper
• Tom Hern (used to at least)
• Alida-Nadine Kurras, German TV host
• Ashley Scott, actress
• Gracia Baur, German singer
• Kate Ryan, singer
• Laura Wilson, actress
• Lenna Kuurama, singer with Vanilla Ninja
• Doreen Steinert, German singer

Body Jewelry, Pregnancy and Breastfeeding

Belly Button Rings and Pregnancy

Many women are able to wear belly rings and other body jewelry throughout their pregnancies with no problems. Every body is different though, and your body may react a little differently. It’s not uncommon for the navel ridge to thin during pregnancy, making a belly ring more uncomfortable. If you want to keep your navel piercing open, a piercing professional will have suggestions on how to best do that.

The most common suggestion is to change your metal ring for more flexible body jewelry or a piece of monofilament nylon fishing line. If the piercing is relatively new and hasn’t yet had a chance to heal fully, it may be better to let it close and re-open the piercing after delivery.

Most doctors agree that navel jewelry is usually comfortable up to about the sixth month. After that, some women find that their navel has pushed out, or that their ring or bar is getting banged more often. It may be enough to change out your usual ring for a banana bar, which moves with your body more easily. If the piercing has been open long enough to be completely healed and you’re accustomed to changing your navel jewelry, you could try to keep it open by running a piece of body jewelry through it and wearing it a few hours each day. Before you decide to do this, though, speak to your piercing professional to get their recommendation.

A newer option is to replace the metal belly jewelry with a PFTE bar. PFTE (Polytetrafluoroethylene) is the material that they use to make artificial heart valves. It is soft, flexible and can be sterilized. Some of the advantages of a PFTE bar are:

• It’s very flexible and will bend with you (and the baby as it grows)
• It’s less likely to have skin stick to it, making healing easier and quicker
• It doesn’t conduct heat so it doesn’t get hot in the sun and burn your skin
• It can be cut to exactly the right size with a pair of scissors
• It’s threaded, so that you can wear your favorite ends, caps or gems on the ends of a PFTE bar
• The PFTE bar can be sterilized just like metal

If you are considering getting pierced during your pregnancy:

Most reputable piercers will either refuse to do the piercing, or discourage you from it. The Association of Professional Piercers’ official position is that your body should be concentrating on the task of keeping you and your baby healthy during pregnancy, and piercing distracts from that task. At least as importantly, if you contract or develop any sort of infection because of the piercing, you could be putting your baby at risk. This holds true of nearly any piercing, but is especially important in navel piercings – not, as you might think because of its physical proximity to the growing baby, but because navel piercings are more prone to infection and take far longer to heal.

Nipple Rings and Breastfeeding

If you’re concerned that your nipple piercing will interfere with your ability to breastfeed a baby, there’s good news. Because of the structure of the breast, it’s very unlikely that a piercing will block all the milk ducts. The La Leche League strongly suggests removing nipple jewelry during actual nursing because of the risk of injury to the baby. It’s possible for jewelry to get loose and become lodged in the baby’s throat, or for the hard edges of metal or plastic to injure the baby’s gums, tongue, soft palate or hard palate.