Nick Cannon and 5 celebs who have covered their ex ink

When you’re with someone, you usually think you’re gonna be with them forever and ever, right?

Dax Shepard shows off his ring-finger tattoo for Kristen Bell (VIDEO)

Despite the fact that Hollywood unions seem to have an even shorter expiration date than most, celebs remain eternal romantics and often brand themselves with a tattoo in honor of their beloved. However, it seems that getting inked with the name of your spouse is the kiss of death for the relationship and many find themselves running back to their tattoo artists at the end of a nasty breakup.

Like so many before him, Nick Cannon debuted a new tattoo this week and confirmed that his marriage to his estranged wife, Mariah Carey, is dunzo. His fresh art is ginormous, appears to be religious in nature and covers up where it used to say “Mariah” across the back of his shoulders.

Here’s a sampling of prominent people who also had to get creative with their cover-ups.

1. Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder were the quintessential late ’80s, early ’90s couple. Gorgeous, super cool and slightly greasy. It seemed only natural that Depp got “Winona Forever” tattooed on his arm and everyone was sad when they went their separate ways. Depp didn’t lose his sense of humor over the situation, though, and altered his tattoo so it now reads “Wino Forever.” If Depp ever goes to rehab, he’ll have to look into doctoring that baby up again.

Winona Ryder doesn’t approve of Johnny Depp’s relationship

2. Angelina Jolie

It’s hard to conceive of a world in which Brangelina does not exist, but at one point in time, Jolie was a different person and she was married to Billy Bob Thornton. The massive amount of PDA, vials of each other’s blood hanging around their necks, strange musings about their love — no wonder everyone’s trying to block this relationship out. However, after their marriage dissolved, Jolie was left with a tattoo of a dragon on her upper arm with “Billy Bob” above it. She has since replaced it with the coordinates of where everyone in the Jolie-Pitt brood was born.

3. Denise Richards

Though being married to Charlie Sheen is undoubtedly a time she will never forget, Richards decided to get rid of the cute Charlie tattoo she had on the inside of her ankle and replaced it with a naked fairy. It’s an interesting choice, considering Sheen took to prancing around with naked goddesses for a good stretch of time after their separation.

4. Tom Arnold

At one point, Tom Arnold was so in love with Roseanne Barr that he actually had her face tattooed on his chest. He didn’t cover up the tatt, but he did go through the painful process of laser surgery to get rid of it.

5. Marc Anthony

Breaking up with Jennifer Lopez has got to be atrociously hard. The woman is everywhere and she is flawless. As if seeing Lopez’s face on the big screen, the little screen and everywhere in between wasn’t painful enough, Anthony had a daily reminder of his ex-wife on his own wrist. Tattoos on that area of the body are pretty tricky to cover up and his new art is much, much larger than the simple “Jennifer” that was once there.