Rita Ora has opened up about misogyny in the music industry, her rule-breaking 30th birthday party during lockdown and upsetting her mother.

The pop star, who is married to film director Taika Waititi, has claimed her ‘free-spirited’ approach to life since has seen her constantly shamed and under scrutiny and claims it’s down to her gender

Rita said: ‘How do I think women are treated differently? Have you got all day? I’ve had it my whole career: having people judge what I wear, saying, ‘Is she too naked?’ Or, ‘Can she say things like that?’ I find it extremely misogynistic.’

Due to the constant spotlight on her private life, the singer admitted that she sought advice from J-Lo about how to deal with it, who told her to keep going and ‘ignore the noise.’

As an artist, Rita has been inspired by Madonna to be more outlandish and outrageous with the things she does and says.

In admitting she is not perfect, Rita has also revealed that she tries to ‘own up’ to her mistakes and apologise, instead of running away from them.

A scandal in 2020 saw Rita do just that, after she hit the headlines and faced backlash for a rule-breaking 30th birthday party during lockdown.

She admitted that the worst part about her breach of the rules was her mother’s reaction, because she is an NHS employee.

Rita said: ‘She was upset with me, that was the worst bit, seeing her working every day and coming home exhausted and knowing what I did, was obviously avoidable.’

Due to the constant spotlight on her private life, the singer admitted that she sought advice from J-Lo about how to deal with it, who told her to keep going and ‘ignore the noise.’

As an artist, Rita has been inspired by Madonna to be more outlandish and outrageous with the things she does and says.

In recent months, Rita has released a new single called Praising You for her new album You and I in collaboration with Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim.

Now, she has opened up about how the pair came to work together on the song, revealing that she met him at 2.30am in Shangri-La.

She said: ”I went up to him and said, ‘I love you, I’d love for us to do something together one day.’ It was 2.30am in Shangri-La, the ravers’ corner.

‘I wouldn’t say it was the best place to have a business conversation. I got his number and basically stalked him.

‘He may not say I was that bad, but for me, I was definitely. I was like, ‘Please, if anyone can pull this off, I think it can be me.’ I know he’d been asked for years by other people.

‘We built a genuine connection. I wrote a song with Praise You in mind and sent it to him; he came back and said he loved it.’

Her music video for the song was directed by Taika, who she began dating in 2021 after their friendship of five years blossomed into romance.

The clip is a homage to 70s and 80s films including Flashdance and Fame and she revealed that she and Taika had the idea for the video as they lay in bed one evening.

Rita said: ‘Me and Tai were in bed one night and we were like, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if we did it like this?

‘You can see the face of it, it’s not beautiful, but it’s not ugly; it’s sweaty and uncomfortable. The undertone of the video is you don’t have to be perfect, you just have to be you.’

Their message which she wants fans to take away from the video is that you don’t have to be perfect in life but can just be you.

The pop star is happily loved-up with Taika and has described their relationship as amazing, admitting that their nuptials were planned in just two days.

Rita said: ‘There’s never a dull moment. We vibe off each other. I would say how we got on so well in the beginning, before we decided to ruin it all and start dating. We were friends for a long time.

‘But after five years of friendship we were like, ‘We think we’re ready to take it to the next level.’

‘But we were such good friends, we were worried we would ruin what we had. But it was amazing.’

As her job sees her constantly in the public eye, Rita wanted the wedding to be completely private.

She was delighted because his daughters were there along with her sister and her mother and father were on Zoom.

The hitmaker gushed over the whole day, saying that it was ‘perfect’ and that she even got to wear the exact Tom Ford gown that caught her eye in a 2018 fashion show.

Rita revealed the designer is one of her favourites of all time and after a visit to his wedding dress shop, she saw the outfit and was able to wear it, saying it was ‘meant to be.’

The day was so private that her friends didn’t even know she was getting married but when she told them afterwards, they were delighted.

Elsewhere, although she has had a stratospheric rise to fame and is enjoying continued success, the star has admitted that she has made huge sacrifices to make sure her loved ones are ok.

She lives in constant fear that she will go back to the life she had before and it has let her with an unbelievable drive.

Rita said that her family were not the richest or the poorest, describing her childhood as a ‘middle ground of confusion’.

This was because her parents could take her shopping one day but couldn’t pay for other things the next.

Her rise to success has meant she was able to buy her parents a house, something she was extremely proud of.

Now she has more stability in her life, Rita revealed that she is finally starting to start living and stop worrying, doing things even though people might not agree with her decisions.