She wed Taika Waititi in secret more than two years ago – and Rita Ora recently shared a rare insight into the success of their union.
“Taika and I are basically just best friends,” the British hitmaker confided. “We wanted to live in that element for ever, I guess.”
Kosovo-born songstress Rita, 34, had a turbulent dating life all throughout her twenties.
Now she’s found the key to lasting love – and it has everything to do with the solid foundation of a prior friendship.
“I have never dated someone before who I was friends with first,” she muses. “It’s different because the stability’s there, the framework.”
The Let You Love Me singer and Thor: Ragnarok director made their official debut as a couple on the red carpet of The Suicide Squad premiere in Los Angeles in 2021.
A year later, they set tongues wagging when photographers captured them wearing matching gold wedding bands.
It was another five months before the super-private pair confirmed that yes, they had indeed tied the knot.
Previously Taika, 49, had been married to Kiwi film producer Chelsea Winstanley, also 49, with whom he shares two daughters, aged eight and 11.
Rita, meanwhile, had spent her twenties building her stellar music career and dealing with the hurly-burly of love in the spotlight.
In 2009, she began a two-year relationship with Grenade crooner Bruno Mars, 39 – a union she later described as “love at first sight”. “Bruno was unknown back then, too,” she shared. “He was a struggling songwriter hired to write songs for me. I thought, ‘Wow, that’s the world’s greatest guy!’”
For a short while she dated former reality TV star and sock designer Rob Kardashian, 38, before meeting DJ Calvin Harris, 41, in 2013. The following year, she learned that their relationship was over via Twitter.
Other romances included Tommy Hilfiger’s son Ricky Hil, 35, rapper A$AP Rocky, 36, musician Travis Barker, 49, record producer Andrew Watt, 34, The Amazing Spider-Man actor Andrew Garfield, 41, and French director Romain Gavras, 43.
Rita has since spoken out about the “sexist” attention on her romantic life, pointing out the double standards.
“My love life has been colourful, to say the least,” she shares. But she’s grateful for what it taught her.
“What makes me go ‘urgh’ is when people pour so much responsibility into somebody else to make themselves feel how they want to feel. That’s a disaster, a car crash. You’ll always be unsatisfied. I was that person.
“I had a moment of reality recently where I realised all the stress and anxiety I had in my twenties – I survived it.”
After being introduced by a mutual friend – Mickey 17 and Twilight actor Robert Pattinson, 38 – Rita and Taika were friends before becoming lovers.
Rita recalls vividly when she knew about Taika.
“He put his hand on my back and then… low back,” she recalls. “And that’s when I knew, this is a different type of stroke, you know? I was in!”
While they’ve kept their relationship under wraps, Rita gave fans a peek into their private life with her most recent album You & I, which she released in 2023.
The soundtrack contains actual voicemails from Taika and the official video for the title track features footage from their intimate wedding.
“I felt like it was really necessary to be an open book. I wanted to introduce people to where I’m at in my life now – like a diary,” reveals Rita.
Life with her best friend, it seems, is sweet.
“We actually inspire each other,” explains Rita.
“With me coming from music and him being a writer and director and a filmmaker… it’s a house full of ideas. And we’re both fire signs too, so it’s just like fire, fire, fire.”
Taika and Rita’s timeline
August 2, 2021
Arriving on the red carpet arm-in-arm, they made their official debut as a couple at The Suicide Squad premiere in LA. “I’m in a great place in my life,” she revealed.
February 14, 2022
Rita shared a photo of herself with Taika on social media of a photo of the pair meeting in 2018. “[This is the] first photo [from] the night we met four years ago” she wrote. “Then a year ago we decided to ‘complicate’ things”.
August 8, 2022
The enigmatic pair sparked marriage rumours after they were spotted in social media posts wearing matching gold wedding bands.
January 27, 2023
Rita confirmed she and Jojo Rabbit director Taika had exchanged vows, declaring, “Yes. Here we are. They say everything happens for a reason. I am officially off the market, people!”
February 8, 2023
Taika showed off an ornate “R” tattoo on his hand. He joked on social media it was actually a tribute to New Zealand’s national game. The caption read, “I love rugby.”
August 4, 2023
They celebrated their first wedding anniversary by sharing some never-before-seen photos from their intimate Los Angeles wedding.
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