‘Oh, this is what they talk about’: Taika Waititi says tabloid attention made him doubt Rita Ora relationship

Couple were introduced by Robert Pattinson and became friends before dating in 2021

Taika Waititi has admitted that he was taken aback by the amount of media attention he received when he began dating Rita Ora.

The Marvel director and British singer have been in a relationship since 2021 and are reported to have married this summer.

Ora was the subject of the season finale of Louis Theroux’s Louis Theroux Interviews… series, during which the presenter spoke to Waititi about how he met Ora through Robert Pattinson, with their pair originally being friends before they began dating.

The couple were then interviewed by Theroux together, during which they both referred to the other as their “best friend”.

“Taika, were you conscious of being pulled more into the spotlight?” Theroux asked, with Waititi quipping back: “I don’t know about that, Louis. I think it was probably the other way around. Don’t you think, darling?”

Turning serious, Waititi then responded: “Erm, yeah. I enjoyed hanging out with you and then people started taking photos of us. Then, for about five minutes, I thought, ‘Oh, this is what they talk about.’”

Ora explained: “The thing is, you don’t come into this industry, ‘Oh, would I love to do music?’, thinking about that at all. It’s one of those things you have to deal with once you’re in it, so it’s not like you go to school for it.

“It’s a really hard thing to digest because you’re not trained for it. You’re just trained to go on stage and sing and make music.”

Waititi (left) and Theroux (BBC)

Ora said that she preferred being in Los Angeles because the paparazzi “leave you more alone” than in the UK, where they would often camp outside her house.

While discussing public interest in her life, Ora also opened about her experience of being accused of being the woman Jay-Z allegedly cheated on Beyoncé with, known as “Becky with the good hair”.

Ora described the rumours as “insane” and said any hints she was the other woman were a “coincidence”.

“This is what I mean, man. A pinch of salt,” she told Theroux. “You’ve got to take things with a pinch of salt. And that’s what’s insane. I had to just sit through that until a good friend of mine, Katy Perry, gave me a hilarious badge that said ‘not Becky’.”

Louis Theroux Interviews... is on BBC iPlayer now.