Ariel Winter has a tattoo on the inside of right wrist of the spade symbol from a deck of cards. The inking is a tribute to her maternal grandmother Helen G. Batistas, who taught her how to play poker.
“I have a spade on my wrist because I love playing cards, like more than anything, it’s my favorite thing to do.” Ariel told ET. “I’ve been playing poker since I was six years old. My grandmother actually taught me when I was young, so I have a spade for her.”
Ariel has had a complicated relationship with her mother Chrisoula, whom she has accused of both verbal and physical abuse, so her relationship with her grandmother was extra special. E! News reports that Ariel’s older sister Shanelle, who would eventually become Ariel’s legal guardian, was removed from her mother’s home temporarily at the age of 12 and placed in the care of their grandmother.
Helen passed away from a massive stroke at the age of 72 in August 2010. However Ariel still holds a special place in her heart for her. “Yiayia we’ve missed you everyday since you left us in 2010. We love you so much.” she tweeted in 2015.
The timeline for this tattoo is a bit confusing. Ariel posted videos on her Snapchat while getting the tattoo done by artist Dr Woo on November 17, 2016, but she had previously talked about the tattoo in an October 2016 interview with ET. Our best guess is that she got the tattoo done at an earlier date and then had it retouched by Dr Woo in November.
Whenever it was first done, we know that she had thought about getting a memorial tattoo for years beforehand. Back in October 2012, Ariel posted a picture on her instagram of a temporary tattoo that she drew with a marker of her grandmother’s nickname “yiayia” and her date of death.
