Rita Ora recently guested on Steven Bartlett’s podcast, Dairy of a CEO, where she opened up on her newest album, life journey, and struggles she and her family faced upon arriving in the United Kingdom.
Bartlett went back to the roots of the world-famous singer, who was actually born in Kosovo. Ora confessed that she and her family moved to England in 1991, when she was only 1 year old and her sister, Elena, 3, whereas her brother was born later on in England.
The main reason was the war situation in Kosovo that led to a lot of families just like Ora’s, to emigrate to other countries.
“I was born in Pristina, Kosovo, in 1990. It’s a small country, but it’s wonderful,” Ora told host Steven Bartlett.
She also spoke on the relationship at that time within the family and with her sister, as she was growing up.
“My sister, bless her, she would help me with homework and other stuff, because our parents couldn’t speak English. I remember she had it tougher as the was the oldest daughter,” Ora reminisced.
Ora’s father went from being an accountant to working in a pizza restaurant, whereas her mother starting from scratch, in order to get dozens of qualifications to maintain her psychiatrist license, episodes that left a deep impression on young Rita and her siblings and taught them the concepts of discipline and hard work.
The singer also revealed that her father was at first, very sceptic of her singing talent.
“My mother was very happy when she heard it from my teacher. She would always be fun and tell me to sing in front of people whenever there’d be parties, but my dad was practical.”
Ora came to know of her talent in a “Cinderella” school play, where she earned the main role.
“I figured I was worth it because I got the main part.”
However, on one of the topics discussed in the “I Lived With Anxiety” episode, Ora expressed that she’s been fearful of losing everything one day and how she feels the pressure not to let her parents down.
“I feel broken, it makes me feel like everything I’ve done is about to disappear and takes me back to the fear of losing everything. All I think about is my mum and dad because they’ve worked so hard to get me to this point, I have my whole family to keep afloat,” the singer shared.
While revealing certain truths about her career and mental health struggles, the singer who is now happily married to Taika Waititi, added that her new album “You & I” connects the most to her and she hopes fans will understand more of her personality.
