I made money & partied every day until terrible decision during Covid made me change everything, reveals Rita Ora
SHE broke strict lockdown rules to host her boozy 30th bash, but four years on Rita Ora says her birthdays are a lonely affair.
The singer reveals that the milestone birthday in November 2020 sparked a major U-turn that saw her overhaul her health and focus on work. And it seems to have paid off.
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She has just released song Heat, filmed movie Voltron with Superman actor Henry Cavill and this week posed in a bikini from her successful Primark collection.
Rita said: 'My work ethic, I'm proud of it. I think it's higher than other people's in a lot of different ways.
'I always want to break boundaries and inspire people, that's always been my goal.
'And I do sacrifice a lot of things to do that, like I don't see my family as much.
"I have lonely birthdays. I miss Christmases. It's a lot of sacrifices to do this.
'I just came off this three-and-a- half-month shoot in Australia for a huge film called Voltron, which is a big-budget movie.
'It's not easy doing these things and then also making a record on the weekends, which is the only days I have off.
'If you're willing to do the work, nothing is impossible. I really do believe people can do it all.'
Her new attitude to life is a far cry from in her twenties when the Hot Right Now singer admits she was dazzled by the fame and fortune she had created for herself.
It is perhaps why she thought it was acceptable to splash out thousands of pounds on her party at Casa Cruz, in London's Notting Hill, for all her mates when the UK was in its second strict Covid lockdown.
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'Confident in my choices'
Not only had the venue been paid to flout the rules, the star's security team had ordered the CCTV cameras to be turned off. Rita ended up paying a £10,000 fine.
Talking about her hellraising days, Rita, who grew up in West London after her family moved there from Kosovo when she was a baby, admitted: 'I made money, I didn't come from money, and I just really was living every day like it was my last, with no care about what was going to happen the next day.
'I regret not being a bit more considerate, I would say, with myself, my body, my mental health, but also others.
!I was always respectful and appreciative of others, but I was like, 'This is what we are doing and that's that'.
'I never really understood, I guess, how much responsibility I had for other people, like my fans, how much I inspire people or, I guess, the pressures we have to keep people on the right path.
'I think a lot of people were looking up at me, looking for me to give them a lot of answers, and I didn't mentally digest that.
'I was just living, going and going and not stopping.
'But it's hard for me too. I think for anyone in my position to wake up one day and you're like, 'Oh, wow, I have all these people that are depending on me to really give them inspiration'. I'm also human.
'But now I feel like it's something that I take pride in.'
I don't want to stop feeling good. That's the one thing I care about.
Rita Ora
The backlash over her bash, after which her father give her a ticking-off - was the catalyst for change.
On the Reign With Josh Smith podcast, Rita explained she felt 'old' and decided to get her 'life in check'.
She said: 'When I turned 30 a lot changed. My body was just not reacting the same and I was not eating healthily.
"I was getting sick all the time. I couldn't do more than two, three shows in a row - and usually I could do a whole week of shows if I needed to.
'I was like, 'OK, I want to just try to simply eat a little healthier'. So I would do cauliflower rice instead of rice. I would change things a little bit.
Rita's routine
'I don't want to become a health guru or anything, but during that time I was really seeing my body reacting differently.
'And then I was like, 'Oh, let me lift some weights'. And now I'm really obsessed with my weekly routine.'
That routine involves 'exercise, ginger shots and supplements' and being 'mentally present'.
Rita says her mum Vera, a psychiatrist, helped too.
The singer explained: 'She never forced therapy on us, but there was always that essence of maybe you should speak to somebody.
'And I did. Now I've just got really cool, great tools and I just feel more confident in my choices. I do have the best relationship with myself than ever before, I really do.
'It's also made other relationships stand out that were not healthy.
"And those people now are angry, but that is their problem and not mine.
'I find that when you have that relationship with yourself, everything changes, you know?
'You find things come to you that you're like, 'Whoa, how have I blocked that out?'. But it's taken me a while, and I'm still working on it.
"I don't want to stop feeling good. That's the one thing I care about.'
Happily married
Rita, who married Hollywood filmmaker Taika Waititi, 49, in 2022, has also slowed down — after a fortune teller, who only works with high- profile clients, suggested she do this.
She told the podcast: 'She said to me, 'Your life is like a pile of sand in your palm and it can go through your fingers at any moment'.
'It's about how you protect your one pile of life in the palm of your hand and make sure you move slowly and steadily.
'That always stuck with me. I used to rush to things and be like, 'I want it now'.
'I'm trying to move a bit more steadily and not react so much because once you react impulsively, it's usually something you'll end up regretting, right?
'I try my best to just take a second before I respond to things. And that's helped me a lot.'
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After a few years away from the charts, Rita's new summer hit Heat makes a return to unadulterated pop after her last, very personal, album You & I charted her romance and marriage to Taika.
She said: 'My last record was amazing, in my opinion, because it had depth and a storyline, and it was about love.
"I got married and I really was inspired by my relationship, and it just was where I was at in my life.
"And now I'm at a point where I love my partner, love my relationship.'
Laughing, Rita added: 'But f*** that. I just want to be in the moment and have fun and think about what I want to feel like when I'm in Ibiza with my friends, drinking a Chardonnay with ice, having the sun beaming down, SPF making me sweat.
'How do I want to feel when I'm drunk in the day?
'And that was how Heat happened. I had the best time making this record.
'I love the idea of the fact I'm speaking, it's like sex on sight, it's intentional, it's direct, it's kind of cheeky, it's rude, it's iconic.'
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