Dave Bautista is "so embarrassed" about the heart he had tattooed on his butt.

The 55-year-old former wrestler has several inkings on his body but he won't remove any of the designs he now dislikes as the process is a "nightmare", so he'd rather cover them up instead - which means he now has a large cherry blossom tree etched on his rear.

Speaking on 'Live with Kelly and Mark', the 'My Spy the Eternal City' star said when asked if he'd consider removing any of his tattoos: "I’ve thought about it and then I’ve just gotten cover-ups instead. It’s a real nightmare to get tattoos removed. They burn them off."

Dave then admitted he had covered up his very first tattoo and explained: "Oh man, I'm instantly sweating.

"I will preface this by saying it was the 80s and it was my first tattoo. I lived in DC, I was in Arlington, Virginia. I went to this place called Rick’s Tattoo. It was this old biker named Rick... I picked out the tattoo and told him I wanted it on my butt. I wanted it on my butt so my dad wouldn’t see it and kill me. So I got it on my butt."

The biker shaved the 'Dune' star's butt before double checking the placement of the tattoo.

Dave recalled: "I was like, ‘Yeah.’ And he put it on. And, I’m so embarrassed.

"It was this really cheesy heart that said, ‘Heart of Stone.’ I thought I was a tough guy with a tough tattoo. And I regretted it immediately. But I got razzed so bad in the WWE for that tattoo.

"I said, ‘Just cover it up. I don’t care just cover it up.' "

The 'Guardians of the Galaxy' star also revealed he has a tattoo on his leg that he left unfinished because it was too painful, admitting he had "started drinking" during the process to block out the pain.

He said: "I have a tattoo on my leg that I got maybe 15 years ago that I never got finished cause it hurt so bad.

"It’s on my leg but it’s when he got up to the back of my knee where it became so painful that I actually kicked him out of my house. I said, ‘Dude, I can’t take it anymore.’"