Rita Ora explains why she wanted to keep Taika Waititi wedding ‘a secret’ from the public

Rita Ora and Taika Waititi tied the knot in August 2022 yet kept the news hidden from the public for months as "it felt nice to have something that was a secret for a bit". Photo / Invision

Rita Ora enjoyed being able to keep her wedding a “secret” from the public.

The 33-year-old pop star tied the knot with Hollywood director Taika Waititi, 48, in August 2022 but did not announce the news for several months and has now explained she wanted to keep it private for a little while after having shared so much of herself with fans over the last decade.

She told OK! Magazine: “I wanted to keep [the wedding] to myself for as long as I could. 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 Anywhere hitmaker - who popped the question to Waititi herself - added that even her friends started to worry they had missed the nuptials before she invited just eight of her nearest and dearest to the intimate ceremony in Los Angeles.

Rita Ora and Taika Waititi attend The Met Gala on May 1, 2023, in New York. Photo / Invision

She said: “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!”

Ora has become stepmother to Waititi’s children Kāinga o te Hinekāhu, 11, and seven-year-old Matewa Kiritapu - who he has with his ex wife Chelsea Wistanley - and explained that even though she now has more company around her, not much else has changed in her life as she mused about the possibility of having kids of her own.

She said: “Nothing much has changed in my life, I now just feel I’ve got company. But with Taika being from there [New Zealand], it’s very important for the children to have a home.

”It [having my own children] happens when it happens. I just believe in the universe.”