Rita Ora pursued a singing career to “make her parents happy”.
Rita Ora
The 30-year-old singer has admitted her parents, Vera and Besnik, are the “driving force” behind her desire to “make loads of money” from her career, because she wanted to make sure they never have to work again after sacrificing so much when they first moved to the UK from Kosovo when Rita was young.
She said: “I wanted to make them happy. I didn’t want them to ever work again. [When the family first arrived in Britain] my dad was working three jobs at once and my mum didn’t speak any English and was learning how to be a doctor and beating breast cancer all at the same time.
“I was like, ‘I want to make loads of money so I can make sure that they’re happy.’ That was my driving force for a long time. I wanted to create a world where I was untouchable, I could basically have whatever I wanted and give my parents whatever they wanted. And now they’re happy and healthy, they do not leave me alone! They call me every five minutes, I’m like, ‘Go away!’ ”
When asked what her parents last called her for, the ‘Girls’ hitmaker said they both want her to buy them the latest iPhone.
She quipped: “The new iPhone! They’re like, ‘So, Rita, the new iPhone came out … ’ I’m like, ‘I know …’.”
And whilst Rita’s parents are thankful for her chart-topping career, her friends don’t think she’s famous.
Asked by The Sunday Times’ Style magazine if she’s the only famous one in her friend group, she said: “Well, they don’t think I am. They’re like, ‘Oh my God, shut up!’ I’m like, ‘Guys, look what I did today.’ Don’t care. I’m like, ‘This person is cute.’ Don’t care. That’s what I love about them.”
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