Julia Roberts Tats Out the Yin-Yang

Photo By Cinthia Matus

Miljenko Ladislao Konstantin Parserisas Vukovic is a 57-year-old Chilean who became famous around the time he got his 83rd tattoo of Julia Roberts (specifically, as she appears in Erin Brockovich). 

The ink was etched into his skin over a decade by Leonardo Alarcón, a tattooer who specializes in portraits. But eventually, Leonardo’s work got Miljenko lots of unwanted attention from the press, and the human canvas freaked out and fled.  

Curious about what Miljenko was doing now, we tracked him down. When he answered the door, he had three watches on his right arm and said he didn’t want to give any interviews, but after some cajoling, he let us in.

VICE: Nice to meet you, Miljenko. First things first: Why did you disappear?
Miljenko Parserisas: I didn’t want to do any more interviews, because they never showed me where they got published. One time, they took me to a studio and shot an interview with me, but they never told where I’d be able to see myself. I let you inside because it’d be rude of me to leave you out in this heat.

Thanks for that. Why did you feel the need to get so many Julia Roberts tattoos?
It’s because of Erin Brockovich. I fell in love with that woman the day I saw the movie. Each tattoo is one of her expressions in the movie: when she looks in the mirror, when she’s walking elegantly with her stuff, when she laughs. She is beautiful. I only like her in that movie, but not in the others, because she’s always kissing the other actors or has too much makeup. In Erin Brockovich she’s perfect.

Why didn’t you want to go meet her?
Because I love her, but she’d never look at an old man like me.

So the tattoos are enough for you? Enough for your heart? 
Why not? They are so pretty. Look at this one. [he shows off a tattoo on his right leg in which Julia Roberts is looking over her shoulder] She’s sexy, beautiful. When I go to get tattoos, we sit down to watch the movie, and when I see a face I like, I tell him that’s what I want.

Do you plan on getting more tattoos? 
I stopped getting tattoos because I have no room left on my body. And I would never get a tattoo on my ass. Besides, I don’t have a job anymore, and my pension is not enough.