Pete Davidson is in the midst of a major make-over. The Saturday Night Live veteran and star of the new box office-topping animated flick DogMan has been showing off the results of hours of painful laser sessions to burn of the more than 200 tattoos that once riddled his torso while making the rounds to promote this weekend’s SNL50: The Anniversary Celebration special.
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He’s also talking, a bit, about his string of high-profile romances and how his tabloid-target dating life while on the show turned into a huge distraction, including his whirlwind romance, engagement and break-up with Ariana Grande. “It was pretty humiliating and upsetting, honestly,” he told Page Six of the attention and noise that his personal life got during his eight seasons (2014-2022) on the show. “Everyone is dating everyone and it’s Hollywood. Look at Paul Mescal, Timmy [Chalamet], Barry Keough,” he said. “But because I’m ugly, they wrote about me. I was harassed for like five years and it made my life a living hell.”
Davidson, 31, said the focus on his off-screen romances with Kim Kardashian, Kaia Gerber, Kate Beckinsdale and Cazzie David became “embarrassing,” because he wanted people to focus on his comedy and sketch work on SNL as one of the youngest, some might say rawest, performers to ever take the stage at Studio 8H. “All that got pushed to the side because of who I was dating,” said Davidson, who auditioned for the show when he was 20.
In one of his rare public comments about the blink-and-you-missed-it 2018 romance with Grande that began in the spring, led to an engagement in June and a break-up that October — during which he got four tattoos dedicated to Grande and she wrote a song for him, “Pete Davidison,” for her Sweetener album — Davidson said things are good these days.
“When we see each other, which is few and far between, because we’re not in the same circles, it’s all love,” Davidson said of the singer/actress, who is nominated for her first Oscar for best supporting actress in Wicked. “I hope she wins the Oscar, I hope she takes the gold,” he added. “I’ve had some pretty adult relationships with some pretty amazing women, and when it’s ended it’s been cool.”
As for that phrase that has followed him around since that time in reference to his Grande-confirmed endowment with “BDE” (aka big d–k energy), Davidson said that, too, is a bit much. “I’m a very sensitive person and it’s humiliating to see a picture of yourself eating a sandwich in a pink T-shirt with the headline ‘This is what BDE is,’” Davidson said.
Davidson is showing off his newly blank skin canvas in revealing ads for women’s clothing company Reformation and he told Page Six that after breaking up with Outer Banks actress Madelyn Cline last summer he hasn’t been dating anyone. “I’m starting to turn my life around,” said the comedian who has been open about his longtime struggle with substance use and mental health issues.
Clean and sober and out of the glare at the moment, Davidson said he feels for other stars who get descended on by the paparazzi, specifically calling out the attention focused on Justin Bieber and wife Hailey Bieber. “I look at other celebrities and I’m less judgy. They’re dogging Bieber now — leave the kid alone, he’s clearly exhausted and just trying to be a father to his kid,” said Davidson, who added that he dreams of one day having a life like his friend comedian and former SNL writer John Mulaney, who has two children with actress Olivia Munn.
“I hope that happens for me,” Davidson said.
SNL50: The Anniversary Celebration will air live on NBC at 8 p.m. ET on Sunday (Feb. 16) and then stream on Peacock.
