'I wanted to keep the wedding to myself for as long as I could

Superstar Rita Ora talks candidly about her secret 2022 nuptials, why she works so hard and life Down Under

- JOE BROMLEY & EVE

Rita Ora is on a roll. After a decade of dishing up chart-topping hits – and some iconic fashion looks – she is now ready to put her acting career centre stage, following her marriage to Academy Award-winning film director Taika Waititi.

The star is known for her bubbly, larger-than-life personality, but when it comes to her private life – and in particular her relationship with Taika, 48 – she typically remains tight-lipped. Until now, that is.

In a rare, tell-all interview, the 33-year-old Masked Singer judge has lifted the lid on her life away from the glare of the public eye, from her top-secret wedding in August 2022 to her hopes of settling down and having kids.

“I wanted to keep [the wedding] to myself for as long as I could,” explains Rita, whose famous exes include musicians Calvin Harris and A$AP Rocky, and actor Andrew Garfield. “I’ve been in the public eye for a while now and I’ve always given everything I’m part of to the public. It felt nice to have something that was a secret for a bit.”

The couple – who first met at a barbecue in 2018, but didn’t officially get together until 2021 – only confirmed they’d tied the knot a few months before their first wedding anniversary.

“A lot of my friends were like, ‘Oh my God, we’ve missed it.’ I just told them that we will figure something out. It felt chill – because my life is not chill,” she says.

Rita popped the question herself while the pair were on holiday in Palm Springs in the summer of 2022. Wasting no time, the couple got hitched just a few weeks later in Los Angeles.

They invited only eight people to their wedding, with their parents attending virtually, over Zoom.