Busted star Matt Willis has responded to internet trolls that went for him after he got a massive tattoo of his wife on his leg.
The heartfelt gesture was meant to celebrate the couple’s 16th wedding anniversary, with the 41-year-old proudly showing off his new ink on social media.
Musician Matt now permanently has artwork of his wife Emma, 48, in a dress in a powerful pose with pursed lips, against a black backdrop on his right calf.
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The couple have been going strong for 16 years. (Joe Maher/Getty Images)
However, the bassist has since admitted that the bold gesture wasn’t well-received by his partner, who said that she wasn’t ‘super keen’ on the ink, as the picture used for the tattoo was based on being ‘old’.
Since revealing the tattoo in July, the former Big Brother presenter has got a lot of stick from fans, as they were quick to spot a rather big problem with the tattoo – it doesn’t quite look like his wife of 16 years.
One user posted: “Is that meant to be Emma”
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While another asked: “Who’s the lady in the tattoo?”
“Fantastic gesture, but that is not winning Ink Master,” a third person said.
“I mean.. it’s a nice gesture. It looks nothing like Emma though, and I doubt it’ll look good when healed,” a fourth wrote.
Now co-presenting the unique Netflix show Love Is Blind: UK alongside his TV presenter wife, Matt properly addressed the tattoo criticism on his podcast, On The Mend.
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The anniversary gift was different, to say the least. (mattjwillis/Instagram)
On one episode of the show, where he openly speaks about his mental health and addiction struggles, the musician was asked about how painful the tattoo was, and what Emma thought of it.
Matt openly answered with four words: “Yes, it did hurt.”
He continued: “If anyone doesn’t know, I got a new tattoo for my wedding anniversary. We’ve been married for 16 years and I thought I’d get my wife a present by getting her tattooed on my leg.”
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“It was a lovely thought. They say when you have plans, God laughs, right? Whatever that means! But I had all these grand plans, and a big gesture of love, and I thought she was going to love it,” he admitted.
“It wasn’t that response, shall we say. She wasn’t overjoyed, she was just like ‘oh, so you got a tattoo of me, on you, for my anniversary present’ and I was like, ‘yeah’. It wasn’t quite the desired response. But I love it, I love it, I think it’s cute,” the 41-year-old said.
Emma liked the tattoo, but she didn’t love it. (Iona Wolff/BAFTA via Getty Images)
Opening up on the reaction from fans, the TV personality revealed: “Do you know what? I’m in the habit of replying to comments on Instagram now because I put clips of the podcast on and talk about On The Mend so I go in and respond to people because I really like the interaction,” he began.
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“And I’m in the habit of checking comments now. I obviously put a picture of my tattoo on when I first had it done, it was raw and black and I put it up on Instagram and I’ve never had so many negative comments about anything I’ve put up in my life.
“It was a real test. It was like ‘oh, how do I feel about these negative comments’ but I kept going back to what I say, what people say about me is none of my business,” Matt concluded.
Featured Image Credit: Joe Maher/Getty Images / mattjwillis/Instagram
Topics: Celebrity, Mental Health, Social Media, TV, Instagram
