Nicole Richie wants 'tramp stamp' tattoo removed

Nicole Richie wants to remove her 'butt crack cross' tattoo.

The 'Fashion Star' mentor is embarrassed by her 'tramp stamp' - a cross tattoo located on her lower back - and has consulted with Los Angeles physician Dr. Tattoff to have the inking removed.

Chronicling her visit in a new AOL web series, '#CandidlyNicole', she said: 'I was 16 and an idiot and didn't want my parents to see, you know? It just means a certain thing and I don't want to be part of that group.'

The 31-year-old star - who has two children, Harlow, five, and three-year-old Sparrow with Good Charlotte star Benji Madden - has nine tattoos in total and got her first one at the age of 14 under less than desirable circumstances.

She explained: 'The first one I got in a room inside of a garage. The guy actually took out a gun and asked my friend to hold it while he tattooed me.

'I got a Chinese love symbol - which I don't think it [said what it was supposed to say].'

After consulting with the doctor and discovering her undesirable body art would take a year of treatment to remove, however, Nicole eventually decided to wait till the future to have the tattoo zapped.

She said: 'I don't want to wait two months in between each process. It's going to take over a year. If it was a one time thing, I would do it. But I'm not going back every two months. It's too much upkeep. I'm hoping in 10 years they'll have new technology.'