A young mother who was branded with a ‘Born to B***h’ tattoo by her mum says she will keep the ink forever as a reminder of her mother’s early death to drug addiction.
Krissy Jewell, 34, from Brisbane, had the phrase inked on her at just 15 along with another tattoo of a unicorn on her tummy and a black blob on her bum – all done by her mother heroin-addict mother Wendy.
But it wasn’t long after she was branded ‘Born to B***h’ that Ms Jewell left home, trying to escape a house dominated by her step-father who she had a difficult relationship with.
Ms Jewell said although her childhood was traumatic it shaped her to be the parent to her son Jake, now 15, that her own mother never could be.
Wendy died of a morphine overdose at 46, just before Ms Jewell’s 29th birthday.
Krissy Jewell (pictured) had a tattoo inked on her chest by her mother aged 15 that said ‘Born to B***h’ (pictured on right breast)
Ms Jewell said she grew up in a small country town in Queensland while she watched her mum struggle with a life of drug addiction
‘Mum never really committed to things. But she bought the tattoo gun and basically tattooed our whole family,’ Ms Jewell told Daily Mail Australia.
‘She gave me three. One that said ‘Born to B***h’ on my breast, a unicorn on my stomach that’s now covered up and a black blob on my bum that says “wicked”. Thanks Mum.’
Ms Jewell’s mother Wendy (pictured) tragically passed away at the age of 46 after a morphine overdose
While she’s always hated the artwork on her chest, she didn’t want to get it removed, because it served as a reminder of her late mother.
Besides the tattoos, her childhood with her mother scarred her in other ways.
While her mother battled drug addiction, Ms Jewell was exposed to the impacts of the drugs.
‘I was pretty much stoned for the first 16 years of my life,’ Ms Jewell said.
‘[My mother] said she preferred me to smoke weed than drink alcohol.’
‘She was an interesting woman and had very different views.’
Ms Jewell and her sister and brother moved in with their mother’s boyfriend when she was six years old.
Her step-father didn’t approve of Wendy’s drug habit and would lash out at her, and Ms Jewell often found herself caught in the middle as she defended her mother.
Ms Jewell still has the Born to B***h tattoo, which has faded after 20 years (pictured)
Ms Jewell says she was in constant conflict with her step-father.
Wendy battled addiction to heroin and speed before becoming a mother, and was eventually diagnosed with bipolar disorder, Ms Jewell said.
She said Wendy was unable to end the troubled relationship with her partner and for years and the family was constantly leaving his home after fights – only for her mother to forgive him.
At 15, Ms Jewell decided to leave the family home and moved in with her best friend and her family.
‘When I moved out of home I did what I could to help her. She would live on and off with me and I would be her carer. She was just such a lost soul.
‘It was drugs or men, they were always her priority.’
Ms Jewell who now raises her 15-year-old son Jake (pictured) said she left home at the age of 15 to escape her step-father
But the age of 23, Ms Jewell said she nearly went down the same path.
Her grandmother passed away and to cope Ms Jewell would spend half the week partying.
‘I would party three or four nights a week, I was working full time and I would sleep under my desk,’ she said.
‘I just thought what the hell am I doing with my life, my nana would be so ashamed with me.’
Ms Jewell spent her 29th birthday burying her mother.
Ms Jewell said she nearly went down the same path of her mother after her nana died, partying four nights out of a week, all while raising her four-year-old son
Before Wendy died, Ms Jewell hadn’t spoken to her in four years, and her sister hadn’t spoken to her in six.
‘I never hated her consciously. But because she never protected me and wasn’t the parent I needed her to be, there was a lot of unconscious hate,’ Ms Jewell said.
‘Now I just have so much love and forgiveness for her and her journey and the amount of pain she was in.’
While the 34-year-old still carries the scars of her childhood, she has had time to heal and get on with her life.
She now runs her own business coaching mothers and fathers how to be the parents they want to be.
She said it was paramount that families understand the importance of self-love and self-care.
‘I think [my mother] has a lot to do with the work I do now. Had she had self-love she would have been able to put her kids first and choose men that didn’t hurt us,’ she said.
‘It’s been an incredible journey of self-acceptance, but I refuse to pass down my trauma to my son.’
The young mum now has a career as a trainer, coaching parents to be the best carers they can for their children as she tries to heal from her own traumatic past