The Bachelor’s Bella Varelis reveals the heartbreaking reason behind her new tattoo

Bella Varelis has dismissed speculation her new butterfly tattoo is a ‘swipe’ at her ex, Bachelor Locky Gilbert.

The 26-year-old posted a screenshot of an article that claimed her new inking was a ‘subtle swipe’ at her former flame on Instagram Stories on Tuesday. 

‘So quick to relate anything I do as a swipe at Locky,’ she began, adding a crying-while-laughing emoji. 

‘I got my butterfly for my grandfather guys because the psychic told me spirits can show themselves as butterflies,’ she said, referring to the medium who featured on a group date on The Bachelor.

Bella added: ‘Ever since he passed they’ve been coming up to me almost every day.’

Speculation about the tattoo emerged on Monday, when she revealed on her Instagram Stories that she was getting a tattoo of a butterfly behind her right ear.

Speaking out: The 26-year-old posted a screenshot of an article that claimed her new inking was a ‘subtle swipe’ at her former flame on Instagram Stories on Tuesday 

‘I got my butterfly for my grandfather guys because the psychic told me spirits can show themselves as butterflies,’ she said, referring to the medium who featured on a group date on The Bachelor 

‘The meaning behind this one goes deep. I love it so much @gabdeer,’ she captioned the post. 

The article claimed that butterflies ‘tend to symbolise rebirth, renewal and embracing changes’. 

But during a group date on this year’s season of The Bachelor, psychic Alison Maiden told Bella: ‘I have an older man in the spirit world here. I’m getting a feeling it’s someone with cancer…’  

Shock: During a group date on this year’s season of The Bachelor, psychic Alison Maiden told Bella: ‘I have an older man in the spirit world here. I’m getting a feeling it’s someone with cancer…’ 

‘So quick to relate anything I do as a swipe at Locky [Gilbert],’ she began, adding a crying-while-laughing emoji 

‘My grandfather, he has cancer… I’m not sure if he’s passed. He had lung cancer before I left [to film for the show],’ an emotional Bella told her.

She then told the show’s producers that she urgently needed to call her mother to find out her grandfather’s condition.

After making the phone call, Bella learnt that her grandfather was alive, but in an Instagram post after the episode aired, she revealed he’d died just a couple of weeks later. 

Moving on: After breaking up with Bella during The Bachelor finale, Locky is now happily loved-up with Irena Srbinovska