"She wants to be the poster girl for those who aren’t a size zero and stick thin.”
Flaunting her curves in a pink and black bikini, Tulisa Contostavlos looked like she’d put last month’s split from Skins star Jack O’Connell firmly behind her as she partied in Ibiza last week.
After spending the weekend in New York – where she set tongues wagging after a dinner date with music producer The Dream – Tulisa jetted back to the UK for the first of The X Factor auditions in Cardiff alongside new judge Nicole Scherzinger.
She then flew to Magaluf to perform at a gig, before jumping on a private jet with pals to party in Ibiza – where she was spotted with a mystery man.
The star was spotted laughing and joking with the man in a club. She later posted a picture of herself with a gang of her friends on Twitter.
And the star – who was a slim size 8 when she visited Miami in February and is now a size 10 – has told pals she enjoyed showing off her fuller figure in the sun.
A source says: “Tulisa’s feeling really confident with her new look and wants to show that she’s having fun being single. She got lots of male attention on her holiday and she couldn’t stop flirting with all her admirers.
“She’s taking a new approach to her body and wants to celebrate her natural figure and curves. She’s found her ideal figure and says she’s never had so much attention from guys as she’s had since she started enjoying her natural figure.
“When she found out she was going to be sitting next to Nicole on the X Factor panel, she said: ‘There’s no point trying to compete with her body and looks – I’m just going to be myself!’
“She said she wants to be the poster girl for those who aren’t a size zero and stick thin.”
Tulisa had dropped to a size 8 after splitting up with her N-Dubz bandmate Fazer – aka Richard Rawson, 25 – in January, sticking to fruit for breakfast, salad for lunch and sushi for dinner. But she regained the weight while going out with Jack. And now pals say Tulisa, 23, has relaxed her strict regime.
A source says: “Tulisa’s been bringing different food groups back into her diet, including dairy and wholemeal bread. Her new mantra is to enjoy a little of everything, but she doesn’t binge on fast foods or chocolate.
“She’s not interested in being ultra slim. She said: ‘Being skinny doesn’t suit me, anyway men prefer curves.’”