Rita Ora and Taika Waititi attend the UK Gala Screening of Marvel Studios' Thor: Love and Thunder in London. Photo / Getty Images
Rita Ora and Taika Waititi attend the UK Gala Screening of Marvel Studios' Thor: Love and Thunder in London. Photo / Getty Images
Rita Ora has ended six years of speculation by insisting she’s definitely not “Becky with the good hair”.
The 32-year-old pop star has long been rumoured to be the mystery woman mentioned by Beyonce on her 2016 track Sorry, which was said to have been about someone her husband JayZ cheated on her with. Rita later fuelled the gossip by sharing a picture of herself wearing a bra emblazoned with lemons - which many took as a cryptic reference to the title of Beyonce’s Lemonade album - and a necklace featuring the letter J.
However, Ora insisted it was “pure coincidence” during an interview with film-maker Louis Theroux in his new BBC series Louis Theroux Interviews ...
The documentary-maker asked her: “When Beyonce had her album, there was a mysterious woman called who allegedly Jay Z had cheated with. Then at some point in 2016, with Lemonade in the air, you posted a picture of yourself with lemons on your bra and a ‘J’ around your neck.”
Ora, who is rumoured to have married Kiwi film-maker Taika Waititi, responded: “Oh my God, it literally was a coincidence. I didn’t even think about it, I swear. And it wasn’t a J, it was an R. They flipped it [the picture] round and then it looked like a J.”
The singer went on to insist the bra was from her collaboration with underwear brand Tezenis and had nothing to do with any gossip about fellow musicians.
She went on: “No, it had nothing [to do with it]. No, that was my own design with an underwear company called Tezenis that I was working with. This is what I mean, man - a pinch of salt - you’ve got to take things with a pinch of salt. And that’s what’s insane.”
Beyonce set tongues wagging across the internet with a song referencing the infamous "Becky" her husband allegedly Jay-Z cheated with. Photo / Getty Images
Rita then laughed about a “hilarious” present she got from her “good friend” Katy Perry, who gifted her a badge emblazoned with the words: ”Not Becky.”’
Beyonce’s track Sorry - which featured on her Lemonade album - sparked speculation her husband Jay Z had cheated with her with someone she referred to as Becky as she sang: “You only want me when I’m not there/You better call Becky with the good hair.”
As well as Rita, another woman rumoured to have been Becky was fashion designer Rachel Roy - the ex-wife of Jay Z’s business partner Damon Dash - after she posted a tweet about having “good hair”.
She was later flooded with online abuse and posted a subsequent message which appeared to hit back at the trolls. It read: “I respect love, marriages, families and strength. What shouldn’t be tolerated by anyone, no matter what, is bullying, of any kind.”
‘Everything clicked’
Meanwhile, Rita Ora and Taika Waititi have revealed they first got together at a friend’s birthday party in Australia.
The couple - who are rumoured to have married in secret over the Northern Hemisphere summer- have opened up about their romance in a new video for Vogue in which they allowed cameras to follow them for a whole day during a trip to Dusseldorf, Germany for the publication’s 24 Hours With series.
During the film they were asked about the start of the romance, and they admitted they didn’t have a formal first date, with pop star Ora saying: “It was more like a party date rather than a sit-down-dinner-like date.”
They went on to explain they had actually known each other for several years before they became a couple after first meeting in Los Angeles and then keeping in touch.
Ora added: “We met in LA and it was through friends and it was amazing. Very casual. And then we stayed friends for like four or five years. And it was amazing to kind of get to know you, I think and just feel no pressure. And just, don’t know it was just a more natural thing.”
The 32-year-old Hot Right Now star then revealed they got together while they were both working in Australia as things “clicked” when they attended a friend’s birthday party together.
Ora went on: “We were both in Australia doing two separate jobs and we didn’t really know that many people in Australia so we just hung out and that was it. We went to a friend’s birthday party and that’s when everything clicked.”
