Eric's Biggest Secret On That '70s Show

Dorky, reserved, and ever-so smarmy, the central hero of "That '70s Show," Eric Forman, is a fairly open book. He's open about his nerdy interests even if others look down on them or consider them lame, and he is almost always willing to be honest with his friends in tough situations. However, few men are completely devoid of secrets. Even Eric has some big secrets that he wouldn't tell those who are close to him.

One such secret developed due to every teenager's Achilles heel, insecurity. In Season 3, Episode 22, Eric makes the mistake of reading through Donna's private journal. He learns that, even though she loves him, she often wishes he was a bit more "wild," citing Aerosmith lead Stephen Tyler as the kind of guy she finds attractive.

For obvious reasons, Eric snooping through his girlfriend's personal belongings isn't his biggest moment, even if it was driven by a desire to become a better boyfriend. He sinks even lower when he unconvincingly tries to cover up his prying (points against his natural honesty there). Even still, Eric leaves to shape himself into the Stephen Tyler of Donna's dreams.

As motivated as Eric is to become Donna's dreamboat, he encounters some immediate roadblocks. After all, no scrawny dweeb like Forman knows how to become cool. Luckily, you can always count on Eric Forman to figure these issues out the right way. By that, we mean Eric proceeds to drown in his own pity by drinking sake with Hyde, Fez, and Leo (their middle-aged stoner buddy played by Tommy Chong).

As we all know, teenage drunkenness usually leads to good decisions. Hence, Eric is inspired by Hyde to get a tattoo of Donna's name on the manliest of all places, his butt. After all, tattoos are wild. They're just the kind of thing a guy like Stephen Tyler would have that makes men envious and women swoon, or so Eric thinks. He can also get it done right then and there since Leo is "pretty sure he used to do this for a living."

The episode ends with Donna approaching Eric and making him fess up about reading her diary. He apologizes before accepting karma's punishment by revealing his new butt tattoo (which may or may not read "Debbie" thanks to Leo). To his surprise, Donna reveals that Eric did not get a tattoo of her name, or of Debbie. Instead, Leo ended up doodling a portrait of Woodstock, Snoopy's canary buddy from "Peanuts." After that, Eric never mentions the tattoo again to anyone (especially his parents), making it his biggest secret.