Cheryl Cole: My Bottom Tattoo Was on My 'F*** it list

When Cheryl Cole unveiled her large rose themed tattoo covering the majority of her back and bottom last year, she divided fans.

But now the 29-year-old pop star has revealed she was determined to get the inking, which cost the price of a small car, after a health scare.

Speaking during a recent appearance on the Graham Norton show she explained that after she almost lost her life when she fell seriously ill with malaria in 2010, she wanted to be more adventurous.

"After I had malaria I created a 'f*** it list' because life's too short and the tattoo was on the list," she said.

And despite the backlash from critics including Daily Mail columnist Liz Jones who said the 'bucket-list tattoo' looked like a rash, she insisted it was worth every penny.

"He's [Nikko Hurtado] an exceptional artist and he was worth it... It was in the £1,000s, probably the cost of a small car."

The former Girls Aloud singer, who is returning to the X Factor judging panel, also admitted that Simon Cowell did "lots of grovelling" to get her back on the show.

Cole was unceremoniously dumped from the panel of the US show after just three weeks in 2010.

"It feels like I've never been away," she said of her highly-anticipated return.

But one person she won't be getting friendly with is Louis Walsh. She admits that relations between them have been "frosty" ever since her Girls Aloud days .

In her autobiography, the Fight For This Love hitmaker claims she first fell out with Walsh because he put his other acts before them, forcing band member Kimberley Walsh to step up and act as their manager. Claims that Walsh denies.