WATCH: Dave Bautista shows his Filipino pride through tattoos, reveals covering one due to a 'former anti-gay friend'
MANILA, Philippines — Actor and former wrestler Dave Bautista loves getting tattoos of things he considers dear to him and tells his life story, and that includes his Filipino heritage.
In a video for GQ Magazine to promote his newest film "Glass Onion," Bautista explained the meanings for the many tattoos on his body that he obtained over the years.
"I was always really just taught to be proud of my heritage," said Bautista, who has a Greek mother and a Filipino father. "[I'm] always very proud of my roots and I display it on my body."
On his left arm, the former wrestler has the waving flags of the Philippines and Greece beside each other, on his left elbow are the three yellow stars and sun of the Philippine flag, and the sun also appears on his chest but this time in black encircling an Eye of Providence.
Bautista said he really embraced his Filipino heritage when he visited the Philippines in 2006 courtesy of the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) for an international event.
"I'm only half-Filipino, from the United States, but they embraced me like I was 100% Filipino and I was born and raised there," Bautista recounted. "That experience is never gonna make me feel anything less in my life."
WATCH: Dave Bautista explains the stories of his tattoos, including a covered-up tattoo that featured a former 'anti-gay' friend
He continued saying "it's just a dream, just so surreal, to go to a country and have them just treat you like you're the Prodigal Son."
Love for tattoos
Bautista gave a quick rundown of his other tattoos, such as his back which he had to keep retouching due to his wrestling career; a positive outcome of which was many action figure versions of himself.
He also embraced being cast in Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy" as Drax Destroyer for launching his film career after he left wrestling and was trying to get into acting for three years.
It led to him getting the "Guardians of the Galaxy" and "Avengers" logos on his thumbs as well as the logo of fictional organization Spectre as Bautista starred in the 2015 Bond film of the same name on his right middle finger.
Other tattoos he has on his fingers were of RZA and hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan who helped him get into films, the Batman logo, and the word "rockstar."
The ex-wrestler's favorite tattoos are of his three old dogs which he put on his right thigh; two passed away to cancer while the third is now old and stays with an ex-wife, so he is leaving some space for his three newer dogs.
Speaking of exes — one of Bautista's ex-wives, Angie, is Filipino — the actor has covered up past tattoos he regretted like names of an ex-girlfriend, an ex-wife and even his first-ever tattoo which was a cement heart with the words "heart of stone" on his butt which he got at 18 year olds.
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One tattoo on his left arm which he covered-up bore the team logo of a person he once considered a friend, but the said person publicly came out with anti-gay statements.
"I had a huge issue with it, it's a personal issue with me, my mom's a lesbian and I just could no longer call him a friend so I had [the tattoo] covered up," Bautista said.
While he did not mention any names, it has been highly speculated that the former wrestler was referring to boxer-politician Manny Pacquiao who had compared gay people to animals back in 2016.
The tattoos he considers the painful are the pin-up models on both his feet and an unfinished Japanese fortress that led up to the back of his knee, while longest to heal was a Gracie fighter symbol on his right elbow which was backwards so it had to be whited out and put on again thus swelling up for weeks
Other tattoos Bautista shared are of not-as-menacing raven on his left hand, Cillian Murphy's Thomas Shelby from "Peaky Blinders" surrounded by "gentleman hooligan" on his left thigh, and the original Winnie-the-Pooh behind his right leg which he got for his "My Spy" co-star Chloe Coleman.
To date, his newest tattoos are the silver unicorn origami from "Blade Runner" — he starred in the film's 2017 sequel — and the signature crown of his favorite artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. — Video from GQ YouTube channel
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