A-Line: Celebrity StyleNiki Taylor on her painful tattoo-removal process, kids, and the Red Cross
Who knew a pretty face wasn't enough in the fashion industry — especially when you're Niki Taylor! But that's the case for the supermodel who has quite a few tattoos on her 5'11" body, so she's in the very painful process of removing four of them, including a fairly large cover-up piece on her right arm, which she says is the one that is often the "deal breaker" to potential clients. "I am removing it because it is stopping me from getting some work I think," Taylor tells omg! of the ink on her right forearm, which is a hodgepodge of cover-ups over the years. She got the original, "Amor Vincit Omnia," Latin for "Love conquers all," in 2002 to match one belonging to her then-boyfriend Keith Urban, who has since covered his as well. "People's eyes go right to it. It doesn't matter how acceptable tattoos are or how many people have them, [attention] goes right to this one on my arm so I've decided to remove it, although I still do have tattoos in other places."
In addition to the Polynesian-inspired band on her arm, Taylor, 37, is also lasering off a tattoo on her left wrist and two on her back. The pain of the process, she says, exceeds that of childbirth — and she delivered twins! "I'd rather give birth than have my tattoo removed, that's how painful it is," says the mom of four. (In addition to Jake and Hunter, 17, from her first marriage, Taylor also has Ciel, 3, and Rex, 8 months, with hubby Burney Lamar.) "It's quick, but going through it is so … it's like a burning, snapping shock through your whole body and you're just like [screams] 'Is it over yet? Why did I ever put this tattoo on my arm?'"
She may not be getting any more tats, but Taylor hasn't counted out having another baby. Although she says she and Lamar, a racecar driver, are "super super busy" with their brood of four, she adds, "you never know. Rex makes you want to have five more because he's so stinking cute and happy." If the couple does have more kids, they certainly have the extra hands — Taylor's teenage sons — to help take care of them. "I just asked them this not too long ago, 'What do you think of your sister and little brother?'" she says. "They're men with very few words right now for me — with their friends, it's totally different. They think Ciel is funny and just a hoot because she's a tornado right now and she's into everything, just kind of a tomboy, but she's really, really cute with Rex … All of them are in the different stages and I'm loving every minute of it. They help out and they're good babysitters."
Although little Ciel is a bit of a tomboy now, Taylor notes that's exactly how she was growing up before she landed her first modeling deal at the tender age of 13. And if her daughter wanted to follow in her famous footsteps also at a young age, the supermodel — who once appeared on the covers of six major women's magazines in the same month — says she would "absolutely" be okay with it. (Similarly, Taylor's sister Krissy started began posing alongside her older sibling at 11, before her sudden and very sad death at age 17 from an asthma attack in 1995.) Unlike fellow supermodel Cindy Crawford, who pulled her 10-year-old daughter Kaia from the business after a controversial photo shoot for Versace's children's line, Taylor says she'd be all for it if "[Ciel] was having fun and she was looking forward to it and wanted to pursue it … I would be with her. I would always be with her. Yeah, I definitely would encourage it, absolutely."
Much like other models before her, including Crawford and Kathy Ireland, Taylor is looking to move into starting her own lifestyle brand, which would include clothes, shoes, bags, and accessories. She's still in the early stages (she hopes to have it on shelves in spring 2013), but she already has the perfect name: Taylored by Niki Taylor. "I've been in the fashion industry over 20 years, so I know it's in my blood," she tells omg!. "I know a lot about it … My wish, my prayer is to have it in like a TJ Maxx or Marshalls or Wal-Mart because price points are very important. I want to still be stylish and look good, but not spend an arm and a leg for things, but have stuff that's made very well."
And if she wasn't busy enough, Taylor has another passion project: encouraging Americans to give blood as part of her position as an ambassador for the Red Cross. It's a mission she was never even aware of until tragedy struck in 2001 when the model was involved in a near-fatal car accident — and she needed 100 units of donated blood to survive. In addition to raising awareness through blood drives, Taylor also posed for the Nexcare give campaign and modeled their "Timeless" bandages, which feature designs inspired by decades from the '50s through the millennium. Taylor is urging Americans to give blood this summer because the season is typically a time when blood donations are at their lowest "because there are distractions and people are going on vacations … so it's a very important time," she explains. "There will be six million people who are going to need blood transfusions just this year in the U.S., so we have to meet those demands."
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