Bridgerton's Simone Ashley tattooed herself and her castmates after watching prison videos

Bridgerton star Simone Ashley has revealed the DIY hobby she picked up over lockdown, where she learned how to tattoo herself and her castmates - all thanks to some prison tutorial videos.

The 26-year-old actor plays Kate Sharma, the eldest sister in the Sharma family who arrives in London in season two of the popular Regency period drama, which dropped on March 25.

"So I've tattooed myself, I've tattooed castmates I've worked with before," Ashley said during her appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

“I was in Los Angeles over lockdown in 2020 and I did all the regular stuff, like making banana bread, tie-dying, all of that kind of stuff."

“I thought it would be a good idea to get my own tattoo pen with the needle. It’s called a rotary pen.”

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Ashley then explained how she bought the set online and noted it was "surprisingly easy" as she didn't need an ID, and just "clicked a button...Apple Pay."

After searching online, the actor was able to find a helpful tattoo tutorial.

The actress spoke about her unusual hobby on the showJimmy Kimmel Live

“I found this video and it was like, ‘Oh, you can use this deodorant stick, like it has a chemical reaction on the transfer paper and all of the stuff,” she explained.

“And then it started getting a bit deep and I was like, ‘Oh, this guy’s using some really interesting stuff’.”

She added: “And then I looked at the username and it was called prisontattoo.com. I looked at his videos and was like, ‘wow, there is an inmate making videos in prison’. This is a fab idea and then I did it, I followed his instructions.”

Ashley then showed Kimmel the tattoo on her ankle of a Sphynx cat which she etched herself - though Kimmel thought it looked "like a dog" and jokingly told her: "Well keep practicing I guess really."

"I think it's pretty good," Ashley replied and explained how she is left-handed so it was tricky to tattoo her left ankle, to which the late-night host quipped: "I know and plus you were in prison and had no access to the stuff - this is a great skill by the way if you ever do end up in prison you know."

"I'm doing your tattoo after the show right?" Ashley bantered back as Kimmel responded to the offer: "I have no tattoos but if I ever get one I'm gonna call you and ask you to do one," as the pair shook hands.

Meanwhile, Netflix announced the second season of Bridgerton had the most successful opening weekend of an English-language TV series on the streaming service to date, with viewers watching over 193 million hours of the period drama.

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