The Queen of Ink, Kat Von D, is an American tattoo artist, writer, model, musician, and businesswoman who hit the limelight in 2005 when she appeared in two seasons of Miami Ink reality TV series on TLC network. Her realistic and intricate tattoo portraits are mostly inspired by the various cultures she encountered while growing up.

In this article, you will get to know more about Kat Von D, where she is now and who she is married to.

Kat Von D’s Biography

Her original name is Katherine von Drachenberg, born on March 8, 1982, in Monte Morelos, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. She was born to Argentine Seventh Day Adventist missionaries Rene Drachenberg (father) and Sylvia Galeano (Mother).

Her dad is of German descent while her mom has Italian-Spanish ancestry. She has a brother Michael Drachenberg and a sister Karoline Drachenberg. Her family migrated to Los Angeles in the United States when she was just 4 years of age and at 6, she began to learn how to play the piano from her grandmother.

Highly influenced by the Latin culture in Los Angeles, Kat Von D, at the age of 12, developed an interest in tattoo art and punk rock. She became an ardent fan of rock bands like Ramones, Misfits among others.

At 14, she got her first tattoo and by the time she was 16 years of age, she quit school in 1998 to become a tattoo artist. Kat Von D’s first job as a tattoo artist was with Sin City, a local tattoo shop where she was employed the same year she quit school.

From there, she found employment in various shops for years, honing her tattoo art skills. She worked with the likes of Tim Hendricks, Clay Decker, and Chris Garver, the owners of the last tattoo shop where Kat Von D worked; urged her to take part in a trending reality TV show – Miami Ink to showcase her outstanding tattoo art skills.

When the 305 Ink, Miami tattoo artist Darren Brass broke his arm in 2005, Kat Von D was hired to replace him. She worked two seasons in the TLC network Miami Ink show before she was fired for having repeated verbal clashes with shop owner Ami James.

The very ambitious Kat Von D, spurred by her termination from the show, she opened her own tattoo shop, High Voltage and acquired her own TLC reality TV series, LA Ink, which was telecast in her shop in 2007. On the show, Kat Von D set a Guinness world record of most tattoos given in 24hours, which totaled 400.

The record was later broken on June 13, 2008, by Oliver Peck, her ex-husband, with 415 and subsequently by Hollis Cantrell of Artistic Tattoo who totaled 801. After four seasons, the TLC network announced the cancellation of the LA Ink show in September 2011. Kat claimed that the decision to cancel was hers.

The multi-talented celebrity also wrote a book titled High Voltage Tattoo in 2009. The book is a collection of her artworks and tattoo and ranked 6th on The New York Times bestseller list. She launched another book titled The Tattoo Chronicles on October 26, 2010, which was ranked 3rd on the New York Times Hardcover Advice & Misc. bestseller list.

Kat Von D make-up line Sephora was first released in 2008. She has released new collections yearly and has also included perfumes in the mix. She opened an art gallery and boutique Wonderland Gallery just beside her tattoo shop in LA and launched a clothing line tagged KVD in both Los Angeles and Canada in 2011.

Kat Von D featured as a background vocalist for the gothic rock band The 69 Eyes in the year 2012. She also recorded vocals for Chicano electronic rock duo – Prayers, in the song Black leather, appearing also in the music video of the same song. Von D appeared in 3 of Chris Comer IMAX album Alive in New Light in 2018 as well as other music videos.

The Argentine–American tattoo artist, musician, author, has an estimated net worth of $14 million.

Mother

It’s obvious that the tattoo artists whose parents were missionaries came from a humble background and she had a close bond with her mom Sylvia Galeano; she even named one of the products on her makeup lines Mother.

Is She Married, What Do We Know About Her Husband And Daughter?

She married her first husband Oliver Peck, a tattoo artist, in the year 2003. Sadly, the marriage ended in August 2007 after which she dated Motley Crue, the bass guitarist of Nikki Sixx from 2008 to 2010.

On August 2010, the artist announced she was dating TV personality Jesse James. They announced their engagement in January 2011 but the duo split in July of the same year. The couple reconciled and got re-engaged in August 2011 only to finally break up again in September 2011.

Kat Von D hooked up with Canadian music producer Joel Zimmerman aka Deadmau5 in September 2012 but they broke up a month later. Zimmerman proposed to her on Twitter on 15th of December 2012, she accepted and got engaged to him but announced in June 2013 that the relationship expired on the basis of infidelity on the part of Zimmerman.

Kat Von D eventually married Rafael Reyes aka Leafer Seyer, a member of the Prayers band on the 21st of February 2018. Their wedding ceremony held on June 21, 2018, at the Beverly Hills Hotel, the occasion was largely attended by family and friends.

In May 2018, the artist announced she was pregnant and revealed in the post that her baby will be off vaccination and will be raised on strictly vegan. This post met a lot of criticism by fans and detractors alike

She announced the birth to her second child, a baby boy, on the 3rd of December 2018 named Leafer Von D Reyes. She had a daughter in her first marriage to Oliver Peck.

Where Is She Now?

She currently lives in Los Angeles, in the United States of America with her husband Rafael Reyes and her son. Kat is very much around and active in her career but apparently, she is focused on her new bundle of joy for now.