This programme contains some strong language
This is your dad's pub? This is my dad's pub, yeah.
You want to do it? You do it, you do?
No, you do it.
You show, you do it properly.
Yes.
You just... There you go.
Give it the right position and that's it.
I love it.
Maybe it's a bit bigger head, but...
It's OK, it's yummy.
Yeah.
So I'm going to see if I can beat that.
Go on, then. Head wise.
It's not looking so good.
Oh!
I didn't do very well.
Go ahead, Rita. Well, at least I made you look good.
It's not bad.
You're next.
It might be...
I was lucky because there was... That's the worst one yet.
..too much gas!
Guys, look at this!
That's money back territory.
Look at that.
Mine actually looks OK next to that one.
Have you performed here over the years? Yes.
When you were very young? I started in here, yes.
They have live music. It's so fun. Do they?
Yeah, you should come and hang out. Be careful what you wish for.
Surrounded by cameras.
I might be down here, propping up the bar. Oh, yeah?
You should. It would be good for business.
It's so fun.
I was with the global pop star and celebrity, Rita Ora.
I'll just stay here and think of some good questions.
OK, I'm coming up, Shall we just use one of these?
She'd agreed to spend several days with me at home and on the road
to set the record straight about her life and work.
Can't take me anywhere.
All right, I'm ready, I'm sorry.
I love seeing you with a j-cloth in your hand.
It's so lovely.
Yeah, isn't it nice?
"She's just like you and me." "Just like us."
But with a private jet.
No, that's not true.
Tirana, the capital of Albania.
Hi. Hi.
Welcome. Yeah, thanks.
It's a bit mental. It's amazing.
The energy out there is...
It's something else.
Rita had been invited to give a concert not far from where
she'd been born 31 years earlier in neighbouring Kosovo.
There's a lot of buzz out there.
It's like the Beatles are here, right?
Yeah, I feel like that. Exciting, we're going to...
Thank you. I mean, that's a huge compliment.
The show would be free to the public as part of Tirana's role
as a European youth capital.
So right now, we're just waiting for the press conference to start.
Yeah. Which is, I have to say, I'm very nervous about it.
Oh, are you?
You'd think I'd have this down to a T by now, wouldn't you?
Look at this. You just don't realise it.
For reals? For reals.
Even I still get it.
See, we're all human.
They're just here to love you.
I don't know. Do want to come out with me?
I'll be on the side there. You can speak better than I can.
Not in Albanian!
This is the mayor of, yes, of Albania..
Hi!
Miremengjesi. Miremengjesi.
Hey, good to see you. I'm Louis, nice to meet you.
Yeah, yeah.
This is the British ambassador.
Welcome. Lovely to see you here, at last.
I know, I'm very excited. Thank you.
I'm Louis, nice to meet you. How do you do?
Nice to meet you.
I just want to first say that it's a privilege to be here again,
to perform.
And I really hope you can all come and join me to celebrate
the beautiful country and to have a good time.
So thank you very much.
Rita is both an international artist
and an all-round entertainment brand,
the face of glossy ad campaigns...
I'm going to be making one of my faves using my very own tequila.
..with 13 top ten hits, modelling contracts
and TV talent show roles.
A true superstar.
But along with success and acclaim has come
a public profile and tabloid attention that hasn't
always been friendly.
Sorry, I just have to take some pictures for my Instagram.
Please, be my guest. OK.
I was hoping our time together would be a chance to see the real
person behind the media portrayal.
That shirt's so intriguing.
It's fashion, Louis.
It looks like you might have it on wrong.
It's fashion, Louis.
Smouldering.
Smoking.
Got 'em? Yes. OK.
OK, done at last.
How did that feel?
It's part of the job, Louis.
This is so interesting. Can we not talk about my shirt?
Mine's so boring, my arms go through the sleeves!
Come on, let's go see the stage.
I'm just promoting my tequila at the same time.
She's always come to all my shows.
Oh, I love that.
What is the vibe like being back here?
Does it feel like a homecoming of sorts?
Yeah, it is really nice
because everyone's just like, hey, hi!
Just like one of us.
Rita's concert would be taking place in the city's main square.
After two years of lockdown,
this was one of a handful of large-scale events
she was performing.
With an audience that would be in the thousands,
the pressure was on to deliver.
What have we got there, Rita?
An Albanian flag.
Very cool.
Will you wave it or just wear it? I'll wear it. You'll see. OK.
I guess this is the first time we're going to see how it works
because it might not work.
Have you done this before? No. Cool.
Hopefully it's going to be a great turnout.
I always get so nervous.
Ah!
OK, people, five minutes to show.
This is no time to hit the bong.
This is the worst part. Is it?
Waiting to go on.
I hate waiting to go on.
It's the part that makes me vomit.
Looking good. Let's go!
Rita! Rita! Rita!
Are you ready?
# Let me take you where you'll never go
# Have a little fun
# It's the only way we know
# Let me show you what you never see
# You know how to love, you know how to love
# You know how to love...#
Here we go!
Rita's show was an unabashed all-singing, all-dancing spectacle.
# You know that I would never let you down
# I would never...#
Her set - a tribute to ten years of chart success...
# I will never let you down. #
..and an acknowledgement of a city which sees her as one of its own.
Back in London, in the neighbourhood of Kilburn, not far from where
she grew up, Rita sat down to talk about her journey
in and out of the spotlight.
So you've got, I think 16 million followers on Instagram? Yeah.
So that's not as much compared to some people that have a huge
social media kind of presence.
How many top tens have you had in the UK? 13.
Which is, I think, a record.
Most top tens from a British female solo artist
to come out of the UK in history.
# Ah. #
That's cool, huh? That's amazing.
I'm really, really excited about that.
So you beat Petula Clark and... Shirley Bassey.
# Goldfinger...#
And also, you performed at the Oscars? I did.
Wow, that was amazing.
And Mother Teresa's canonization? Yes.
Come on! Come on!
Famous Albanian.
Also, let's name more credits.
You performed for Barack Obama? I did.
Oh, with Dwayne Johnson when I was excited.
Dwayne the Rock Johnson. The Rock.
When did you work with Prince?
I can't even remember.
It was like, in...
You wrote a song together? Champagne Kisses.
Yeah, never came out.
He passed away.
How did the call come in?
He called me. He was like that. No!
"Hey, it's Prince."
And I went and played ping pong with him.
It was crazy. He's pretty good at ping pong.
Is he? Yeah.
A lot of spin?
Just like a lot going on - the heels, the flares, the ping-pong.
Does that affect his game?
I mean, it really - I think it puts him on game.
Seriously? Was he doing kicks and splits while he was playing?
No, he wasn't! He was - and had a cane that lit up.
We're talking about Prince, not Willy Wonka, right?
Yes, we're talking about Prince.
Should we talk about how you got started, musically?
Well, I went - I didn't go to normal school, I went to theatre school.
I did maths, science, English, Monday to Wednesday,
and then I danced and sang, Thursday-Friday.
And then I was an intern at a recording studio.
And at the time I was so in awe of being in the studio life,
and I volunteered - make tea, clean up, do whatever I needed to do,
sing whenever I could,
and I just wanted to be a star.
I just wanted to be a pop star.
To get to that point, I tried to get a deal.
You'd put out some music,
because you'd featured on a Craig David track
called Awkward, which is actually a pretty good track.
Thanks. I can remember it like it was yesterday.
# I was waiting for your love
# You can only wait so long
# I was hoping and wishing...
I can't remember the rest.
Did you tour with him? Yeah.
This is why I'm saying shout out to Craig - like, he supported me a lot.
I would go on tour with him.
That led me to meet this A&R woman, who put me in touch with Jay Brown,
who was the partner of Jay-Z.
And I sent, like, a demo,
not thinking they were going to look at it.
Do you think there's anyone watching this who doesn't know who Jay-Z is?
If they don't, that's a problem. Worrying. Yeah.
Hip-hop legend.
And they flew you out business class?
No.
Premium economy? No.
Economy. Mm. Because they weren't sure at that point.
They didn't want to spend the big bucks? Yeah.
You'd think they might want to impress you.
No. I think at that point it was like, I mean,
how would I know the difference?
I was like, "I'm going to New York."
And you arrive, and what happens?
I go straight to his club, 40/40.
And so then I get there, and he's sitting right there.
You're hot off the plane. Hot off the plane, tired.
You haven't even changed. No. Exhausted.
He was sitting there, a bit like this...
..and people were, like, in front of me, and they just parted,
and there he was.
"Yo!" - that's my impression of Jay.
SHE LAUGHS SHRILLY
Quite alarming. It's not how I imagined him sounding.
So then he just looks up, he goes, "What's up, kid?"
Exactly like that.
And I was like...
.."Hi".
"Wah!"
The rest is history.
We went to the Roc the Mic studio.
What did you sing?
Oh, I sang a bit of my demo that I sent them.
And at what point did they say, "Right, you got the goods?"
Straight after. Really?
They were like, "We're signing you."
They signed you to a five album deal.
In hindsight, it turns out that wasn't kind of the ideal
launchpad for you, in certain respects.
I mean, can you - how much can you talk about that?
Well, obviously... I know you're very respectful of Jay-Z.
You won't say anything bad about him.
And at the same time, why wasn't the music coming out?
Let's talk about that.
I don't know.
You know, there was moments - I mean, I was recording for like two,
three years straight.
And then what's coming back?
"Jay-Z doesn't like this?"
It was, you know, there was a whole moment where it was about to happen.
I recorded a music video, and it just didn't come out.
They scrapped it.
And I felt really kind of, like, disappointed.
I felt I let everyone down.
It's been reported that all the music,
the best songs were going to Rihanna first,
who was a stable mate there.
She was also - she was obviously the more established artist,
someone you admire.
Respectfully, of course.
She was getting first refusal on all the music,
and she'd sit on songs that had been written, so that you couldn't...
I don't know about that.
Whether it was so you couldn't, or - either way,
the result was that you weren't getting a look at it,
and that she had a problem with you.
Well, I can't speak for other people, but I think publicly, always
they put women against each other.
But I've been nothing but a fan and respectful of her,
and I always will be.
But I'll tell you what happened.
So then Sarah, who is for me one of the most like ball grabbing,
independent, incredibly inspiring women who really...
Your manager. Yeah.
..who's really kind of took matters into her own hands.
And we found a song called Hot Right Now with DJ Fresh.
And that was something that we did ourselves, me and her.
And we presented it to the label,
and they were like, "Oh, right, we're not putting money in it.
"It's not going to be our campaign.
"It's, you know, it's Ministry of Sound. They can - go for it."
So I put out Hot Right Now, wanting to prove that, like, hello,
you're sitting on a gold mine or something.
Hot Right Now, which is a great track,
which is the only drum'n'bass song ever to reach number one in the UK.
Yes, history. Up to that point.
And then they come back - "Oh, we better, we better do something
"with this girl who's been on our books for the last..."
That was exactly right. ..two or three years, at that point.
But that's ridiculous.
And now I'm getting annoyed. Thank you.
And then you put your album out, Ora.
It was a number one album in the UK.
Yes, yes. Big up, Ora. Thank you, for everyone.
I don't think they released it in America, did they? No.
Well, I mean, that also seems odd.
Yeah, it was. It was all odd.
What's that about? Help me out.
I don't know. If I had the answers, I would tell you.
I don't have the answers - Sway.
It's Rihanna, isn't it? No.
You don't think it was an active... I just think it was priority...
It was like, "We don't have time for Rita who?"
I have to say one... "Number one in where?"
I - you know, with everything comes like to prove,
you've got to prove your worth.
I just tried my hardest to become a prominent figure.
That's all I wanted to do.
I, like, wanted to be like that successful.
2015, was it, that you brought the lawsuit?
Let me be clear.
It wasn't going up against Jay-Z,
it was going up against Roc Nation, the label.
You had to bring a suit to be released from your deal.
Yeah. So I...
Plus they countersued you, like, that's all stressful.
I mean, it's just a big headache.
It was an amicable separation.
Were you financially worried?
Were you worried about that? Yeah.
There was ways I survived in that time that I was in before
I chose to leave Roc Nation.
I became the face of many different campaigns,
TV,
and I wanted to also take on acting.
I got paid a good amount of money, which kept me sort of, like, afloat.
I'm happy I did that, because I think for me that opened the door
to, like, a lot of things.
But we did all of that ourselves, my sister and Sarah.
Vocal rest time.
Vocal rest. OK, let's have a little rest.
HE INHALES DEEPLY
Yeah.
How are you, Elena?
Did you want to add anything?
Rihanna? I think you guys are doing great.
What's going on with Rihanna?
Elena's your sister.
You're also her manager. Kind of.
All of her management team, let's say. Yeah.
"This is an app I use to talk when I'm having a vocal rest."
"So leave me the fuck alone, Louis."
You've got a slightly different personality on the app.
Combined with the face.
"I'm kidding. I love you."
LAUGHTER
Ta-da!
In Los Angeles, I'd been invited to a video shoot
for a song Rita was featuring on.
This would be her first new music for nearly a year.
I would take my sunglasses off
but I'm not ready yet, and my face doesn't look...
Do you not want to look unmade-up?
I mean, you can see me.
That looks nice. Aargh!
This is Boris, who I did the song with. Netsky.
The DJ and producer?
Yes, that's right. Yeah. How do you do? Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you too.
Hi! I'm looking forward to hearing it.
Yeah, it's going to be fun.
So remember this face, because you won't recognise me
when I come out of that room.
Dissolve! SHE LAUGHS
I'll be right back, OK? All right.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, take your... One, two...
..three, four, five, six. And... Yeah!
..one, two, three, four and five.
APPLAUSE
Oh, beautiful. Looking really good, guys.
Excellent.
Here she is... Hi.
..looking amazing. Do you still recognise me?
I do. I do.
But you look very glam.
Thank you.
So you'll be in the middle here?
Yeah, this is where you're going to be. Come on, stop.
No, I'm serious. This isn't about me.
They didn't tell you?
What if we all get in position and... Yeah.
Remember what I showed you?
Yeah, I will. Find it inside.
Yes. Right.
He's my emotional support. LAUGHTER
I'm your emotional support animal.
Well, I didn't want to take it that far!
As Rita prepped her moves,
there was a surprise visitor to the set.
How you doing? Yeah, good. Louis. Nice to meet you.
Yeah, nice to meet you. Oh, my God. I'm a big fan.
Rita's boyfriend - the actor, director and
Oscar-winning writer Taika Waititi.
Thanks for coming down.
Yeah. Well, I think you came down to see Rita...
I came down to see Rita, yeah. ..but I'm part of the bonus package.
I see, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Oh, it's a big bonus.
I see her all the time. Yeah.
I barely ever see you. THEY LAUGH
So tell me about you and Rita.
You've been together about a year?
We've actually known each other for years, before we got together.
Everyone thinks we met in Australia last year, but...
That's what the internet told me.
Yeah.
You know who brought her to my house?
It was Robert Pattinson. The famous actor?
Batman. Batman.
He brought her over. I was having a little barbecue thing,
and he brought her over and we got to chatting
and we just became friends.
We hit it off, became friends.
Then for years, for the next three, three and a half years,
we were just good mates. Yeah.
Yeah, and we were in different relationships, both of us.
And every time we hung out we would just catch up
where we left off, and it was a good friendship.
Yeah. And then we decided to ruin it all.
What is it that works about the relationship?
I just like the fact that we both work hard and we've both got
our own jobs and are independent, but are also best friends.
You know, we come from different parts of the world.
She comes from Kosovo and I'm from New Zealand -
very far away, but the backgrounds are very similar in that
we grew up poor, with working class families.
Her dad owned pubs and she hung out in pubs a lot when she was a kid,
and my mum worked in pubs and, well, my family loved being in pubs
so I was in pubs a lot... LOUIS LAUGHS
..when I was a kid - in fact, all through my childhood.
And I think just, you know, the background of
the Maori community, it feels just similar to the Kosovan
or Albanian communities.
Like, our sensibilities are quite aligned, I think. Yeah.
# We used to be in love
# And I will not allow for us to go down in fire... #
When you first met Rita, had she seen your movies?
I don't care if she's seen my stuff or not.
My mum's seen all my stuff,
and she loved it. Mm. That's enough.
But if I can just reach one person...
THEY LAUGH
HE KNOCKS Darling?
Yeah? Hi.
Can I bring in some visitors?
Yeah.
Oh, no... How's it going in here?
You two found each other, then.
We've been bro-ing down out there. SHE LAUGHS
Mainly talking about your romance, how you got together.
Well! I couldn't help it.
We haven't spoken about that yet. It's him.
This is his power. His power.
What works about it... He just sort of... ..the foundation of it.
Aw. Erm, the chemistry. Yeah.
The emotional give-and-take.
He's my best friend.
That's what I said. Did you? Shut up. So our stories...
Say you swear. I swear.
No?
Oh...
Eurgh, what was that?! LOUIS LAUGHS
A snap pea.
Were you...
Taika, were you conscious of being pulled more into the spotlight?
Because obviously Rita and her... I don't know about that, Louis!
I think it was probably the other way around.
Don't you think, darling? LAUGHTER
Erm, yeah, I enjoyed hanging out with you,
and then people started taking photos of us. Yeah.
Then for about five minutes, I thought,
"Oh, this is what they talk about."
The thing is you don't come into this industry,
"Oh, would I love to do music?", thinking about that at all.
It's kind of one of those things you have to deal with
once you're in it, so it's not like you go to school for it.
So it's a really hard thing to digest because you're not
trained for it.
You're just trained to sort of, like, go on stage and sing
and make music.
That's probably one of the reasons why I enjoy being in LA
because they kind of leave you more alone, I would say,
than in the UK. Mm-hm.
Maybe it's because it's so normal here to see sort of, like...
Yeah, it's a lot of stars. ..people walking around.
So they're not, like, outside your house,
like they are back at home.
But... Would they be outside your house?
Yeah. In London?
Yeah. Definitely in my old place.
I've moved now and got a bit more security.
This is a heavy question, so feel free not to answer it.
That's all right. OK.
So have you had any issues with stalkers?
Yeah.
There was one incident where there was a person who just arrived
with suitcases outside my house and said that I'd promised them
that I would leave everything and live a life with them
and run away.
And then these pictures of these individuals you have to put around
at all shows, for all the security to kind of be aware of
these specific people,
because you just don't know when they're going to show up.
Bye-bye. Mwah. Thanks for coming.
I squashed your hair a little bit more.
OK. I'll see you guys later. I'll give you your microphone back.
Bye! Thanks, Taika. I really appreciate it.
Just going to go work on my...another hit movie.
LAUGHTER
Just... Just my eighth, um...
Get out of here. Just go away!
..critically acclaimed film.
Whatever.
They say, "Learn from your mistakes."
I wouldn't know.
Oh, my God!
He even had an exit line.
That's always. That's every day, by the way.
Thank you for having me, Rita.
I'm so happy you came. Yeah, me too.
Thank you for seeing the bit of the inside of this video.
Yeah. Appreciate it.
Hi, Rita. Hi.
Rita's relationship with the tabloids has not
always been easy.
Rita, can I get a picture, love?
In 2020 she was criticised for a birthday party during lockdown,
for which she later apologised.
Over the years there's been extensive coverage
of her love life.
In 2016 she made headlines when one of her Instagram posts led to
speculation that she might be outing herself
as Jay-Z's 'other woman',
written about on Beyonce's Lemonade album.
I was curious how she felt about her press portrayal.
All right.
Just carry on.
One of the things that obviously comes up a lot -
when Beyonce had her album there was a mysterious woman called
"Becky with the good hair," who allegedly Jay-Z had
cheated with her... RITA SCOFFS
Yeah. ..and then at some point in 2016, with Lemonade in the air,
you posted a picture of yourself with lemons on your bra...
Oh, my God. ..and a "J" around your neck.
It literally was a coincidence.
I didn't even think about it, I swear,
and it wasn't a J - it was an R.
They flipped it round and then it looked like a J!
That was in no way designed to sort of... No, it had nothing...
..intrigue or... No, that was my own design
with an underwear company called Tezenis that I was working with.
This is what I mean, man. A pinch of salt.
You've got to take things with a pinch of salt.
And that's what's insane.
I had to just kind of sit through that until a good friend
of mine, Katy Perry, gave me a hilarious badge
that said, "Not Becky".
It's just I guess what the press do, isn't it?
It's interesting because I feel like, you know, everyone
is very interested in my personal life,
like everything else is not worthy enough, which sometimes is
frustrating because I have also got a lot of credentials
to sustain my, like, respect.
And I feel like when things aren't as "juicy" or, you know,
all my sort of, like, career achievements I'm really proud of
aren't spoken about as much as, like, a bit of gossip or whatever,
it just becomes a little bit annoying.
But I understand why to the people it's, like, interesting, but...
I think where it's relevant is that part of your talent
is aligned with a kind of positive attitude to life, right?
Thank you. Which is also involved with having a colourful love life,
right? And I say that with no judgment. Yeah.
Because you've also made jokes about picking the wrong guy
and a couple of them were total... And wrote songs about it.
Can I say this? A couple of them struck me as complete plonkers.
By the way, I didn't mean that... That doesn't attach...
I hope that didn't attach to you.
It was like I just thought, "Why..." Thanks.
You know, "Why did you go with that guy?"
Maybe, maybe... And that probably says more about me. Maybe.
I love love.
I love being in love.
It's amazing. It's so fun.
Who doesn't?
It's like I live life to the fullest.
I am an extremely passionate person when it comes to love,
but I don't base my life on relationships.
I don't base my, like, moments -
"Oh, I remember this because of that" - off relationships.
That's just an addition to my life.
I've always been very adamant on focusing on me
and my, like, work and what I love to do.
And if somebody brings something to that scenario, then great.
I also feel like all of that is irrelevant because of the place
I'm in now, and it's almost, like, disrespectful to what I have now
to even discuss the past.
What I hear very clearly is that you are really proud
of what you've achieved, and rightly so, but that there's an atmosphere,
or can be when you're in the public eye, an atmosphere of judgment,
or shaming, or criticism.
Is that sort of what... Yeah, but look... ..you're thinking about?
You know, we are women.
Men don't get asked, "Oh, you've had 100 boyfriends?",
or "girlfriends?"
Sometimes they do, but the majority of the time they don't.
You know, it comes with the territory.
I think it's part of the world that you're in.
I just count myself kind of pretty lucky compared to some
stories that have...
..been really intense for some that aren't even here with us today
for specific reasons like that.
And some of them were my friends.
You know, the press can be really gruelling.
So I think things need to change.
You were close with Caroline Flack, weren't you? Yeah.
And I think it's really disgusting at times, and it's really sad.
I get emotional because it's...
It's hard to relate if you're not...
..in that position.
You know, no-one is asking people to understand,
"Oh, I'm famous, please, please understand me."
Like, it's very hard to sympathise, but I try not to think about it
too much because it puts me in a sense of stress and anxiety.
How's your energy?
Great.
Here we are, not far from where you grew up.
West London Massive. Ah... Give me one of these.
Here we go. That'll take a minute.
There we go.
Now we're going to get attacked if we go east of Tottenham Court Road.
Your parents had been born - as had you, in fact - in Kosovo.
Mm-hm. And then in... '91, is it, they relocated, they moved? Yeah.
I was one. My sister was three.
You know, and I grew up kind of, you know, in a council estate.
And so drinking in the parks with my mates.
I was definitely... So a wild child? ..a bit of a wild child,
but I wasn't a disrespectful child.
I think there's, like, a fine line.
You have to remember my parents are kind of...
You know, they're traditional. They are Kosovan parents.
They were raised in a specific way - get married, have kids,
go to school.
And so for them it was really important to follow that tradition.
And I was kind of like a...
What's the word - anomaly? Mm-hm.
SHE GASPS I got it right!
One of the things you're quoted as saying is,
"I wish I'd been a better kid."
Did you know that you'd said that?
I probably did say that a long time ago.
It was actually in the context of your mum having cancer... Hmm.
..from which she recovered.
Thank God. She survived it.
But around that time you were also maybe not your best behaved?
First of all, getting that news as a kid, it's, like, a lot,
because you look at your parents and you think they're always
going to be there. They're, like, superheroes, you know?
They're never going to get ill,
they're always going to be there when you need them.
And then there my mum goes, you know,
"Been diagnosed with breast cancer" -
super young, by the way, you know, late 30s.
And you would've been probably 14?
Yeah, I was, like, 13, 14.
And I would still go to school and I just wouldn't focus.
I felt like I was under a lot of, like... I didn't know what to do.
And so, yeah, I rebelled a little bit, you know?
What would that look like?
Was that just partying, or...?
No, it was, like, pretending to go to school and having a spare
pair of clothes in my bag and not go to school.
Spending my lunch money on, like, a packet of Mayfair.
Ten Mayfair!
Oh, God, those were the days.
And, you know, coming back and smelling like cigs, and my parents
were like, "Why do you smell like cigs?"
And I'm like, "I don't know."
And you were at Sylvia Young at this point? Yeah.
So they're thinking, like, "This is supposed to be your dream."
Like, "You're at a stage school." Yeah.
"You want to be a singer and a star. Why aren't you taking it seriously?"
You know, it's true.
I was a kid. I mean, what can I say?
It was moments where I felt like I didn't realise...
I didn't know what to do if my par... If my mum was not
going to be around.
You know, all those thoughts were going on in my head.
I think that's something you carry a little bit of,
or at least at some time in the past maybe you carried
a little bit of guilt about.
No, I do.
At the same time, my parents would keep all the stress
away from us.
They didn't put the cancer on us.
They didn't really bring...
..money issues to us.
I mean, I would see my mum kind of ill - chemo, losing hair -
but she never, like, complained to us.
They were really good at protecting us.
INTERCOM BEEPS
GATE UNLOCKS Oh, that was easy.
Thank you.
Hello!
Nice to see you. Welcome.
Well, this is fabulous.
Welcome to the family house. Gosh.
In North West London,
I had a dinner invitation to Rita's family home...
Nice to meet you. You must be Vera.
I'm Vera. How do you do? Thanks for having us.
Welcome to our house.
..with Mum, Vera, Dad, Nik, and the full complement of Ora siblings.
The house was one Rita had bought eight years ago.
I'm fine.
We cleaned up a bit for you.
It's such a... It's so nice! It's not usually like this. Wow.
It's really not usually like this.
Oh, there's my brother!
Hi. You must be Don. Yeah, pleasure to meet you.
Louis. Likewise.
Am I right in thinking that you're all staying here -
because you're back from LA, but basically you've kind of
reconstituted the nuclear family arrangement?
Yeah, so... Like, all five of you are under the roof?
2.5, yes. Can you imagine?
It feels like the premise for a sitcom,
like "international pop star moves back in with her parents."
Everyone has their own room and it stays as they left it.
So... Very cute. It's, in a way, you know... Frozen in time.
No, it's, in a way, an invitation.
So wherever they are, they are always, you know,
welcome here, and should be here, I think. That's nice.
Aw! It's nice to feel that you have that.
The family had arrived in London 31 years earlier, after fleeing
the outbreak of war in the former Yugoslavia.
In terms of arriving here as a family, as refugees -
can I use that word?
Yeah. Yeah. What was the experience like?
We actually didn't know what we expected here,
but after seeing what happened in Croatia and Bosnia, and starting
in Kosovo, the main thing was for our two girls
at that time to be safe. Mm.
What was it like?
Was it relatively straightforward to get settled?
Vera, you... Do you remember it?
I don't... No, no, it wasn't straightforward.
I came quite happy and enthusiastic and everything else,
but then reality hit me, as a woman, as a mother,
and I couldn't speak the language.
So the girls started learning and... Much quicker than me.
And, yeah, Elena was helping to interpret, even.
I remember when I took them to the GP and I was...
It makes me sad because...
Yeah.
It makes me sad because then I used her as my interpreter,
and I know probably it felt really difficult
for her being under stress.
Nik, do you want to talk now?
LAUGHTER You're fine!
You were going through a lot, too, weren't you?
Yeah. Yeah, because I think I took it a bit harder
because I was a doctor, and then I just became a housewife,
which was fine.
Now, looking back, actually, I used that time to raise the girls
and to spend time with them, and...
But at that time, I thought, "Oh, my God, I'm not working.
"I was a doctor. What am I supposed to do now?"
I had to start all over again,
to take my medical exams, because I had a gap of
seven, eight years that I hadn't done medicine.
But I did it.
I'm very happy that I'm doing the job I'm doing,
now that I'm working for the NHS.
It's a lot to do.
That's incredible, really.
So we're going to look at a few photos.
Yeah, come on, let's have a look.
The family album.
Well, I just thought it'd be really nice to...
It's nice that you've got them in physical form.
I know. Do you... Guys, come on! Come and sit.
Come on. What's happening?
Don't suddenly get camera-shy!
But don't you think back to times when you were living and it was hard
and then sometimes that's the happiest time, isn't it?
There's one video here where we were staying briefly
in, like, a room, and I...
I want you to watch this. Let's watch it.
How big was the flat?
Erm, it was that. That's it.
That room. Just one room? Mm-hm.
MUSIC PLAYS ON FILM
Yeah, we all just danced.
BABY CRIES
Oh, she stepped on him! I just pushed him out the way!
THEY LAUGH
Did you step on his foot?
Yes, and I don't care - look.
Oh, no.
# Happy Birthday to you... #
That's me singing Happy Birthday.
He's looking like, "What is going on?"
He's just tried to touch the candle.
What's wrong with you?
I know.
I'm trying to make him blow the candle.
That's so lovely.
We had so much happiness and there was always music playing still.
We didn't care and we were just together.
We're lucky to have each other, you know? So...
It's such a big deal.
Yay!
Vera, I know you're keen to get going with the cooking, aren't you?
I'm not doing it on my own.
We have to turn it into a ball. Mum, show him.
You can do that as well, but I usually do this.
I made a hole.
Any wine?
Any wine or some water?
A little glass of wine would be nice.
Red? Please.
Vera had enlisted my help to make a Kosovan dish called pite.
The best dish ever.
It's spinach pie.
And I think it's a good reminder for my family to get together
because they don't have it elsewhere.
Maybe it's gone a bit dishevelled because we've been talking
and it's gone a bit. No, it looks fine.
It's going to be good. It's going to be so good!
The journey that your family went on and the trials that they went
through, that you all went through, and the sacrifices they made
have given you a sense of responsibility.
When you come from nothing and you get something, you always
have that fear that you're going to end up again with nothing
because you know how it feels.
So when I had like a taste of some sort of success, I was like,
I can't fail, you know?
So anything that sort of triggers that emotion of
it can all go like that...
..it brings back how it felt when I...when you have nothing,
I'm doing this for not just myself.
And I definitely didn't want to fail.
But do you think if you felt she was struggling or if in any way...
Because there's a lot of toll that comes with being in the public eye,
right? Do you keep an eye on that?
There were times when she was really stressed and I got worried,
to be honest, and it was heartbreaking.
And there's moments where I run home and I say, look, this is a lot
and I don't know what to do.
What do you guys think?
That looks good. Thank you so much for having me.
I really appreciate it, to your good health. Thanks for coming and doing
this. Thank you. It was an honour to have you here.
Thank you very much.
Thank you so much for coming by.
Let me see all your faces.
Let me see you.
CHEERING
I've been doing this for ten-plus years.
Every time I come back here, back in Albania,
I can always count on you to show up.
Thank you so much for showing up tonight. You're so amazing.
As Rita left the stage, I reflected on the journey she and her family
had been on, fleeing a beleaguered nation, then achieving a level
of success in a new land that must at one time have been unimaginable.
Bye, Louis. I'll say bye-bye.
Travel safe.
Thank you for coming. I hope you had fun.
Travel safe. Thank you. Thank you.
FIREWORKS
I mean, in a way, it's sort of glib,
but you are a true success story,
someone who came from... Children of refugees fleeing
an unstable political situation.
And then now you're a world-bestriding pop songstress,
actor, model, and you being outspoken about not hiding your
Kosovan-ness, that's your life story.
I like that, Kosovan-ness.
Yeah, your Kosovan-anity. In a way, you're putting it on the map.
Yeah.
Being in the industry for over ten years, I've suddenly felt
a sense of calmness, weirdly.
Maybe that has a lot to do with my personal life,
but also my confidence musically.
And so I think I've just reached a point where I'm just very much
contained and settled.
Yeah, I'm very happy to be where I'm at.
Have you read the papers in the last 12 hours?
What's happened now? Should I congratulate you?
They're reporting that you and Taika... Spill it.
..Taika Waititi are engaged.
I mean, that's definitely been a conversation,
but it's just really difficult at the moment.
Congratulations. Thank you.
So you're talking about getting married.
Well, it's something that I've always dreamed of since I was a kid.
Yeah. And it's definitely... This is with Taika, now you've
got an actual human to go with the dream.
He definitely is a great human.
And he's the one.
Yeah, he's awesome.
Amazing. We're done. Thanks, Rita.
You and Taika have a very similar sense of humour.
How's Taika doing? He's good.
He's in New York at the moment doing a Time 100 Gala.
Yeah. Not a big deal.
One of the 100 most influential...
Yawn. Oh, don't tell him that.
Boring! Boring.
Oh. Whatever.