I got so many tattoos of Eminem I broke a world record – 20 of them are of his face, but I have so many more
A BRITISH Eminem fanatic who holds the bizarre world record of having the most tattoos of the same musician has spent upwards of $19,000 on portraits of the rapper's face.
Nikki Patterson, 36, of Aberdeen, Scotland, entered the Guinness Book of World Records for the bizarre achievement in September 2020.
A true Stan, Nikki secured the record for having 15 portraits of Eminem permanently etched upon her skin, but the mom-of-one has since expanded her collection to a staggering 20.
She also has another 11 other tattoos dedicated to the Detroit-born musician, who is due to perform at this year's Super Bowl, including various lyrics from his songs.
Explaining her fascination with the artist to The Sun, Nikki said: "I became a fan when I was 14. I remember I was on holiday in Spain and I bought the Marshall Mathers LP from a supermarket after other kids had been talking about it at school.
"I listened to it later and when I heard the song 'Stan' it just blew me away," she said. "The way he told the story, and the lyrics ... I was just hooked from there."
A TRUE STAN
Nikki, a self-employed nail technician, got her first tattoo dedicated to Eminem - or Slim Shady, as he's otherwise known - when she was 19.
Calling the tattoo "nothing to write home about", she got a small backward 'E' on her bikini line.
Over the years that followed, she got a number of other small tattoos, a few of which featured song titles and lyrics of the rapper's.
It wasn't until 2017 that she got her first portrait of the star, real name Marshall Mathers, and her obsession was born from there.
Within the following five years, Nikki got a staggering 19 other portraits of Eminem, spending almost $20,000 in the process.
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One of the tattoos features the album cover of the first Eminem record Nikki bought, the Marshall Mathers LP, and another features the cover of her favorite album, 2010's Recovery.
Speaking about her world record-breaking collection of body art, Nikki told The Sun: "It was really exciting to get it and I'm honestly quite proud of myself."
The 36-year-old said she suffered with eating disorders and body dysmorphia for much of her life, but it was getting her first Eminem portrait that helped her to love the way she looks.
"When I got my first portrait I was so in love with it that, almost overnight, I was looking for clothes that would help to show it off.
"And I sort of started thinking about what people would think about it - I wanted them to look at it, and therefore wanted them to look at me.
"That feeling grew with each one," she added. "And it got to the point where I was actually loving spending time in the mirror and taking photos of myself all the time."
'TAT GOD'
Nikki started sharing the images of her tattoos to Instagram, under the handle , and has since racked up nearly 13,000 followers.
While the majority of the comments on her posts are positive, from time to time Nikki says she will stumble across negative or hurtful remarks on her page.
However, where once such comments would've affected her deeply, the more confident Nikki of today has learned to drown out the haters.
"It really used to get to me but the more it's gone on, and the more confidence I've got in myself in the process, I can just brush it off and ignore it."
It was also through her budding Instagram page that she met her American fiance and fellow Eminem enthusiast, Chris, who is from Boston, Massachusetts.
At the beginning of the pandemic, not long before she first applied for her Guinness World Record, Nikki uploaded an amusing video of herself dancing and mouthing along to Slim Shady's 2020 hit Godzilla.
Chris came across the video and slid into her direct messages, insisting he'd fallen in love at first sight.
"The connection was just instant for me," Nikki, who recently split from her husband of 10 years, said. "I kind of started getting butterflies and it went from there really."
THE REAL SLIM SHADY
In the almost two years since, Nikki and Chris have met in person three times and will be tying the knot in Boston next month. He will eventually relocate to Aberdeen to live with Nikki and her son full time.
Nikki is still yet to meet the other love in her life in person, Eminem, but she's certain that her hero knows who she is.
"I had a really cool encounter with his photographer in Abu Dhabi just before I got the World Record. I was right near the front of the show and he came over and took photos of my tattoos.
"Around 15 minutes later he came back and told me that he showed them to Em and asked to take down my contact details.
"Nothing ever came from it," she said, "but I know he got to see them and that's enough for me."
Nikki has plans to expand her collection of Eminem tattoos ever further in the near future, with at least three more in the pipeline, including an image of Shady with legendary producer/rapper Dr. Dre.
"I would say I have room for at least a couple more," she said. "But that's the problem - I'm actually running out of room for places to put them."
Her dream, she says, would be to meet Eminem in person, have him sign her body, and then immediately tattoo the signature.
She even started the hashtag # last year but never received a response.
For now, Nikki says she'll have to suffice with watching Eminem from afar as he gears up to play the Super Bowl this weekend alongside Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar.
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"I'll have to watch the performance the next morning though," she laughed, "because I probably won't be awake because of the time difference.
"I mean, I'm a 36-year-old mum. I'm not cool enough to stay up that late anymore."
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