Rita Ora has revealed the personal reasons behind her decision to freeze her eggs in her twenties, citing both medical advice and her mother’s health history as key factors.
The 35-year-old singer also shared that her friend and fellow TV personality, Davina McCall, is actively encouraging her to start a family.
Ora, known for hits such as “Hot Right Now” and “I Will Never Let You Down”, underwent two rounds of egg freezing when she was 24 and 27.
Speaking to Women’s Health UK, she said: “(Back then), a doctor told me it was a really good time to preserve the best quality (eggs).
“It was actually the best advice, because now I’m in my mid-thirties and I have a lot of friends really trying to figure it out. It will just be more of an expansion when the time comes.”
The singer, who served as a judge on ITV’s The Masked Singer alongside McCall for four years, said that the former Big Brother presenter is keen for her to have children.
“Davina (McCall) is always like, ‘Hurry up – you can do it,'” she said.
Ora’s mother, Vera, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005 when the singer was 13.
She previously discussed the experience on McCall’s Begin Again podcast, revealing it led to her developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and health anxiety.
“My mother’s (breast cancer) treatment stimulated menopause at an early age for her. So I’m trying to get ahead of it and learn about it,” Ora said.
In 2022, Ora married filmmaker Taika Waititi, the director of films including Jojo Rabbit and Thor: Love And Thunder.
Ora is British and Albanian, while Waititi is a New Zealander of Russian Jewish and Māori descent.
“Our common ground of our mothers being our everything was very important. And the idea of working hard,” Ora said.
“We have lots of similarities in our beliefs and morals and how we were raised – I didn’t realise that Albanian and Māori culture are very similar.
“What works for us is the sense of respecting each other and just being mates and having fun.”
Ora is also a stepmother to Waititi’s two daughters, a role she said she embraces wholeheartedly.
“I don’t know if anything really prepares you, you just have to figure it out in the moment,” she said.
“I’ve loved every second – the girls are just a dream. I think I got very lucky. We have a lot of fun – doing nails, going shopping. I love hanging out with them.”
Since beginning her career in 2004, Ora has achieved four UK number one singles and one UK number one album, alongside acting roles in films such as Fifty Shades Of Grey and Pokemon Detective Pikachu.
