Lucky Diamond Rich: Most inked man on Earth
Greg Paul McLaren — better known as Lucky Diamond Rich — is not simply a man with a lot of tattoos. He is a living, breathing performance, a decades-long art installation that has consumed every square centimetre of his body, including his eyelids, gums, the skin between his toes, and the insides of his ear canals. Recognised by Guinness World Records as the most tattooed person living (male), he carries over 200% coverage — meaning multiple layers of ink stacked one on top of another — applied across more than 1,000 hours under the needle.
Who Is Lucky Diamond Rich?
Born Greg Paul McLaren in Brisbane, Queensland, he grew up in New Zealand and joined the circus in his teens, largely as a way to redirect a life heading toward crime. As a street performer, he learned to juggle chainsaws, swallow swords, and ride a ten-foot unicycle. The money he earned on tour became the budget for a transformation that would define the rest of his life.
His name is a piece of autobiography: “Lucky,” because he considers himself lucky by nature — lucky enough to juggle a chainsaw, swallow a sword, and survive the street. “Diamond” came from friends who called him a rough diamond. “Rich” is a state of mind: rich in spirit.
How the Tattoos Began
At 16, McLaren got his first tattoo — a small juggling club on his hip, chosen partly because it was easy to hide from his mother. He then waited two years before his second session. By 18, he was getting tattooed as often as his circus earnings allowed.
At 28, he made the commitment that would eventually earn him his record: his first full-body suit in solid black ink. From there, the layers began. White ink was applied over the black. Colour was layered over the white. Then new designs went over old ones. In some areas of his body, he carries three or four distinct layers of ink. He now counts all of it as a single tattoo — the biggest one in the world.
“How many tattoos do I have? I have one, and it’s the biggest one on the planet.” — Lucky Diamond Rich
His preferences evolved over the decades. He went from black to white, and most recently added a bio-mechanical sleeve over existing work. One of his most striking pieces is the word “KARMA” tattooed in white across his neck.
Coverage: What 200% Actually Means
The Guinness record is specific: Lucky Diamond Rich has achieved coverage exceeding 200%, which refers to full overlapping layers. No surface was spared. The tattoos cover areas that most artists would never consider:
| Body area | Coverage status |
|---|---|
| Face and neck | Fully tattooed, multiple layers |
| Eyelids | Tattooed |
| Gums | Tattooed |
| Ear canals (upper) | Tattooed |
| Skin between toes | Tattooed |
| Intimate areas | No area excluded |
| Teeth | Replaced with silver veneers |
Beyond tattoos, he also has multiple piercings and stretched earlobes. The overall aesthetic is total — there is no unmarked skin left anywhere on his body.
The Journey in Numbers
More than 1,000 hours — equivalent to over 41 continuous days — have been spent having his body modified by tattoo artists from around the world. He did not work with a single artist or studio but collaborated with hundreds of practitioners globally as he performed and toured. His approach was deliberately open-ended: he would hand over a section of skin and tell the artist to go for it.
The work spanned approximately three decades of active getting tattooed, though he has not received new tattoos in close to ten years.
The Guinness World Record
Lucky has held the Guinness World Record for most tattooed person living (male) for a sustained period. He recalls reading Guinness books as a child and dreaming of appearing in them. Now, children who recognise him from the book approach him in public for photographs — an outcome he describes as one of the greater honours of his life.
He acknowledges that earlier applicants may have faced more resistance due to social stigma around tattooing. The increased mainstream acceptance of body modification, he believes, worked in his favour.
“Good timing on my behalf — Lucky once again,” he has said.
Other record holders in the most-tattooed category
| Record | Holder | Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| Most tattooed person (male) | Lucky Diamond Rich | 200%+ (multiple layers) |
| Most tattooed woman | Neska Fuerzina (formerly Esperance Fuerzina) | 99.98% body coverage, 89 body modifications |
| Most tattooed senior citizen (female) | Charlotte Guttenberg | 98.75%+ body coverage |
| Most celebrity signatures tattooed | Funky Matas | 225+ signatures on back |
Charlotte Guttenberg, notably, did not receive her first tattoo until her 50th birthday. She immediately decided she wanted a full suit, eventually overtaking earlier record holders and, along with her partner, also holding the record for most tattooed senior citizens.
Notable Heavily Tattooed Figures
Julia Gnuse previously held the most-tattooed woman record. A rare skin condition causing severe scarring drove her to have most of her body tattooed in order to cover and reclaim her skin.
Rick Genest, known as Zombie Boy, had his full body tattooed as a living skeleton. He worked as a model and actor, appearing in Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” music video, before his death in 2018.
Life Beyond the Tattoos
Lucky’s 30-year performance career eventually intersected with a period of heavy partying that put him on a destructive path. He has spoken about it plainly rather than romantically. Today, he works for a construction company, lives in an apartment with two dogs and a partner, and has built a stable, quiet life — one that looks nothing like the circus stages he used to work.
He is also now a practising tattoo artist, enjoying what he calls “the buzz” of the process by doing it for others rather than himself.
Despite the extraordinary appearance his tattoos create — and the range of reactions they provoke, from fascination to hostility — he does not derive his self-worth from other people’s opinions of his skin. His perspective on the entire project is quietly philosophical.
“I don’t really get my self-esteem from what others think of me. I like myself today. It’s just interesting that I had to tattoo my whole body to like myself as much as I do.” — Lucky Diamond Rich
He is consistent about one thing: the tattoos did not make him someone different. They made him more completely himself.
“I’m no different to anyone else. I’m just heavily tattooed. I bleed like anyone else. I have the same sorts of problems that most people have living through their daily life.”
Lucky Diamond Rich stands as one of the most singular figures in the history of body modification — not because he broke a record, but because the record was simply what happened when a man pursued an idea all the way to its logical end. Every inch of available skin, every layer of possible ink, every decade of deliberate commitment, until the question of where the art ends and the person begins no longer had a meaningful answer.
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