Rita Ora is finally setting the record straight on one of the biggest pop culture rumors of the 2010s—and she’s giving Beyoncé her flowers while she’s at it.
In a recent interview with Davina McCall, the British singer and actress reflected on being falsely linked to the infamous “Becky with the good hair” lyric from Beyoncé’s 2016 Lemonade album, which fueled speculation about Jay Z’s alleged infidelity.
Rita Ora, now 34, made it clear:
“Because it wasn’t real,” she said, joking, “I wish I had good hair.”
She acknowledged that while she’s been through worse experiences in her life, the media frenzy over her alleged involvement with Jay Z was her first real taste of being tangled in a public “messy situation.”
What most people didn’t know, however, was that Beyoncé was quietly defending her behind the scenes.
“She was my protector. That’s what’s insane because there was nothing but love,” Rita revealed.
“She was my fairy godmother.”
Signed to Jay Z’s Roc Nation at the time, Rita Ora shared how Beyoncé had supported her from the start, even attending her first-ever show in New York at The Box.
But when online chatter linked her to the scandalous “Becky” reference, Rita Ora was blindsided.
“I was like, ‘Why is this happening to me? What have I done?’” she said.
To put the baseless rumors to rest, she made a power move at the 2016 Met Gala—posing for a now-iconic selfie with Beyoncé.
“Then it was gone,” she said.
“Because there was never anything there in the first place.”
Rita has since moved forward, both personally and professionally. She tied the knot with filmmaker Taika Waititi in 2022, and continues to grow her career in music and film.
Ultimately, this story is a reminder that sometimes, the loudest rumors are the furthest from the truth—and in Rita’s case, she had Queen Bey herself in her corner the whole time.
