Kat Von D claims that a counselor at the disgraced youth treatment center Provo Canyon School led her to believe she contracted HIV from a tattoo.
The celebrity tattoo artist, 40, claimed in Wednesday’s episode of Paris Hilton’s new podcast, “Trapped in Treatment,” that a school official at the Utah-based establishment alluded to her having HIV because of her ink when she was a student.
“They didn’t realize it was just a form of self-expression, so when I got admitted, that was one of the things they wanted to cure me from,” Von D said.
“I don’t know whose idea it was, but at one point the counselor set me aside and basically told me that I had contracted HIV from a tattoo.”
The KVD Beauty creator said she was around 15 at the time and claims she had to undergo a series of blood tests and stool samples.
“They told me that I had contracted HIV from a tattoo, and this is after they take your blood and a stool test and a urine test and all that, and so you’re sitting there with somebody that you think is qualified, who absolutely has zero credentials,” she said.
“I can’t even believe that happened,” she added.
Von D said her parents put her in Provo — which was heavily featured in Hilton’s documentary, “This Is Paris” — because they “were terrified of the tattoo world.”
She noted, however, “I think parents are the first victims, because these schools or institutes pretty much prey on the fear that parents have.”
The “LA Ink” alum said she went through her “entire life” thinking she had the potentially deadly virus until she got tested again on her own around age 17 or 18, and then realized, “‘OK cool, I’m gonna be OK.’”
In October 2020, following the release of Hilton’s documentary, Von D decided to speak out for the first time about her own abuse allegations against her former school, calling it the “most traumatic six months” of her life.
She said in a lengthy Instagram video at the time, “Watching [Hilton] talk about some of her past trauma going to this school that her parents sent her as a teenager — I don’t like to call them schools because they’re not schools, they’re f—king lockdown facilities. It just triggered so much s—t for me because it turns out I went to the same school.”
This was also the first time the reality star disclosed a counselor allegedly suggested to her that she had contracted HIV and she was “sure” that it was from tattooing.
Von D said in her caption for the video that she suffers from “major PTSD and other traumas due to the unregulated, unethical and abusive protocols of this ‘school.’”
Dr. Adam McLain, Group Director and Chief Executive Officer at Provo Canyon School, did not immediately return Page Six’s request for comment on Von D’s allegations.