Tulisa and Kelly Rowland on the X Factor

WARRING judge Kelly Rowland has had a heart-to-heart chat with rival Tulisa and told her:

“I want to be friends again.”

Just hours before the X Factor went on air on Sunday night, Tulisa, 23, took a phone call in her dressing room from the croaky Destiny’s Child star, who is still recovering from a throat infection.

Kelly, 30, told her she wanted to “clear the air” and didn’t want things to be as frosty as when she left, when the pair refused to even look at each other.

They had fallen out after Tulisa badmouthed contestant Misha Bryan.

A show source said: “Kelly said she understood what happened in the heat of the moment with Tulisa’s comments on Misha and her attacking contestants. She said she felt the whole thing had got out of hand and they needed to move on.

“She has been in America, out of the X Factor melting pot and realised that things had been blown out of proportion.

“Tulisa was happy to get the call and they made up and were on good terms by the end of the call. They’re going to catch up at rehearsals at the end of the week.”

X Factor 2011 judges Kelly Rowland and Tulisa make up