The World’s Most Tattooed Vampire Woman in Mexico
Vampire María José Cristerna is the most tattooed woman in the world. According to Guinness World Records, 96% of her body is covered in tattoos; the remaining 4% are in hard-to-ink areas, such as the palms of her hands.
María José Cristerna Méndez is a Mexican celebrity known as the Vampire Woman and the Jaguar Woman. Cristerna is a lawyer, entrepreneur, activist, and tattoo artist. She is known for her extensive body modifications, which she claims are a way to combat domestic violence.
María José Cristerna was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco in 1976 and grew up in a devoutly religious family. She is the eldest of two sisters. At the age of 14, she got her first tattoo, the logo of the Swedish metal band Bathory . It is on her left arm and covers most of her shoulder. “My dad was against it at first,” Cristerna said. “But then he took me to a tattoo parlor to get my first tattoo. Art is in my blood. I loved art since I was a child and now I can express it through my body.”
Since 2012, Cristerna has held the record for body modifications (female) with a total of 49. Her first body modification was when she was 30 years old. At that time, Cristerna decided to get implants on her forehead as a statement of liberation, strength, and empowerment, representing her courage and freedom from her past.
Cristerna shares that her transformation is the result of a 10-year marriage where she felt stifled in expressing herself and afraid to show her true self. She was also a victim of mental and physical domestic abuse. Now, she wants to represent all women who have endured emotional, psychological and physical abuse. “The only way to escape violence and abuse is to love ourselves. We come to this world to be happy,” says Maria Jose.
Cristerna earned a degree in Criminal Law from the Catholic University of Mexico. In addition to her work as a lawyer, Cristerna is also a businesswoman. She owns a tattoo studio and a boutique that sells her own clothing line called Mujeres Vampiro (Vampire Women).
Cristerna’s body modifications include a split tongue, dermal implants on her forehead and arms, ear enlargement, eye tattoos, scar tissue, and dental implants. She also has multiple piercings in her lips, nose, tongue, earlobes, navel, and nipples.
Cristerna the Vampire is a regular at international tattoo and body modification conventions and festivals. She has been featured on various television shows, such as Taboo on the National Geographic Channel , and has participated in Body suspension events, where the human body is suspended from devices that have been temporarily inserted into the skin.