Taking their relationship to the next level. Taika Waititi and girlfriend Rita Ora fell in love after deciding to “complicate” their friendship, according to the director.
“[This is the] first photo [from] the night we met four years ago,” the Thor: Ragnarok director wrote via Instagram in February 2022 alongside a snapshot of him and the singer grinning, while posing with one leg against a wall. “We’ve been mates ever since. Then a year ago we decided to ‘complicate’ things but it just got easier. Happy Valentines Day to my bestie.”
Waititi and Ora were first linked in early 2021, shortly after they were spotted hanging out with Idris Elba and his wife Sabrina in Sydney, Australia, with The Sun reporting at the time that the duo had been together since March. The Voice Australia judge was also frequently photographed with the cast of Thor: Love and Thunder around that time. While she was rumored to have a role in the blockbuster film, Ora is not in the movie.
After keeping things low-key for several months, the twosome’s romance made headlines in May 2021 when they were spotted cuddling and kissing Tessa Thompson during an outing in Australia.
Though she didn’t publicly comment on the PDA-filled trip, the “For You” singer previously come out as bisexual in June 2018. “I’m attracted to men and also to women,” she told Porter magazine at the time. “It’s tricky, because Janelle and I are just really private people and we’re both trying to navigate how you reconcile wanting to have that privacy and space, and also wanting to use your platform and influence.”
Ora continued: “I want everyone else to have that freedom and support that I have from my loved ones. But so many people don’t. So, do I have a responsibility to talk about that? Do I have a responsibility to say in a public space that this is my person?”
The JoJo Rabbit director, for his part, told The Sydney Morning Herald that the photos were “not” a big deal. “I think in the world of the internet, everything goes away pretty quick,” he said in June 2021, one month after the snaps went viral. “No, [it’s] not really [a big deal]. I was doing nothing wrong. It’s fine.”
Two months later, Ora and Waititi made their red carpet debut as a couple at The Suicide Squad premiere in Los Angeles. “I’m in a great place in my life, that’s all I’m going to say about that,” the Westworld actress told Vogue Australia in September 2021 when asked about their romance. “I just think, respectfully, privacy is important. … I learned a lot in my 20s.”
Prior to the Oscar winner, Ora was linked to Rob Kardashian, Calvin Harris and Andrew Garfield. She and filmmaker Romain Gavras called it quits in March 2021 after more than one year together. Waititi, meanwhile, divorced Chelsea Winstanley in 2018 after seven years of marriage. They share two daughters.
Keep scrolling to see Ora and Waititi’s complete relationship timeline: