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What a day for Kat Von D. First, there was some bad news: TLC announced that they're closing shop on LA Ink, the reality show that made a star of the beautiful tattoo artist, after this season. But now comes the good news: Kat's engagement to Jesse James is back on!
The latter revelation may sound shocking in light of the couple's breakup last month, but Von D and James (a.k.a. Sandra Bullock's ex) have been dropping hints of a reconciliaton for the past few weeks, passing affectionate photos -- like this one and this one -- back and forth on Twitter. On one, James even added the enigmatic caption "para siempre," which is Spanish for "forever."
Well, James is done being mysterious. The 42-year-old former Monster Garage star tells People that he and Von D, 29, are officially engaged again -- and Kat is even wearing her ring.
"Sometimes you are only given one chance in life," James says. "It was up to me to open my eyes and see it. That girl is my chance. I will never stop fighting and striving to hold on to her. Showing her how special she is, and how much I love her."
It's been a crazy year for Von D, whose reality show hasn't always been in harmony with her life. This season, for example, an episode aired in which Von D surprised James by tattooing his childhood portrait under her arm. It was a really sweet moment -- except that by the time the episode aired, the couple had called off their engagement. The subject was so raw that Von D stormed off the set of Good Day, L.A. in July when asked to speak about her breakup with James. She then posted a Facebook apology that suggested she was suffering intense stress as a result of her escalating fame.
"Most of the time I'm good at rolling with the punches when things don't go 'as planned,'" wrote the tattoo artist. "But somehow, I allowed today to get the best of me. None of this happened over night and I guess most of the time it doesn't. But we are all master of our own reality and whatever is 'happening to me' is no ones 'fault' other than my own."
"The network is proud of what the series has accomplished in its four seasons, following Kat Von D's journey as an artist from Miami to Los Angeles," TLC said in a statement to in a statement.
In keeping with that "make your own destiny" theme, Von D says that it was her decision to walk away from LA Ink, because she didn't like the way TLC was editing it.
"In an effort to capitalize on my recent breakup, the network has decided to focus their energy on re-editing events that didn't happen while filming," she tells People. "I have no regrets and am very proud of the original footage. In my opinion, any attempt to compromise the honesty of that would be an insult to my fans and viewers."
For the record, TLC kept it classy and brief in their statement about the show's cancellation. "The network is proud of what the series has accomplished in its four seasons, following Kat Von D's journey as an artist from Miami to Los Angeles," it read.
Now that the show and the breakup are over, perhaps Kat and Jesse can focus all their energy on making their relationship work -- only this time around, we won't get to see it on TV.
