Angelina Jolie is one of the most tatted A-listers in Hollywood. She has over 18 different pieces of body art (and those are just the ones we can see), but while the majority line her arms and back, the actor just unveiled new ink in a bold new spot.
While attending the 77th annual Tony Awards in New York, Jolie wore a ruched teal velvet sweetheart-neckline strapless ballgown from Atelier Versace, with her long hair blown out and bouncy. But when she tossed her hair behind her back and away from her chest, we noticed a new dainty detail that we mistook for a necklace on first glance. When we zoomed in, however, we realized it was a tattoo of a bird, which looks to be a swallow, about the size of a strawberry in the center of her breastbone.
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Although the meaning behind it will be personal to Angelina, according to an article on the US Naval Institute’s website, “Legend has it that tattoos began when seven sailors from a ship called the Swallow each tattooed a swallow on his chest to mark their mutiny. Tradition, though, generally holds that a swallow tattoo is used measure how far a sailor travels. Originally, a swallow was earned every 5,000 nautical miles.”
It adds: “Swallows often were the first birds sailors would see when nearing land, and they came [to] represent homecoming.” So while Angelina will have her own reasons for the design, the swallow is known to be a symbol of rebellion, of growth (and traveling the distance), of hope, of discovery, but also of rediscovery and coming back home.
