How excited was Rita Ora about being cast in this month’s film adaptation of the mega-bestselling softcore-porn novel Fifty Shades of Grey? Just ask anyone on the British pop singer’s tour bus in 2012, when she was engrossed in the book. “They would all be like, ‘Shut the fuck up and read it in private!’” she says. “People would be putting their headphones on and I’d be like, ‘No, no, listen—this is a good bit right here!’”
Scoring the role of Mia Grey, the adopted sister of the book’s S&M-practicing protagonist, is just the latest high-profile feather in the cap of the Roc Nation rising starlet. Her newest single, “I Will Never Let You Down,” debuted at the top of the U.K. Singles Chart, making it her fourth U.K. No. 1 — tying for the most achieved by any female artist. Her fashion career isn’t too shabby, either. After closing out the catwalk for DKNY at New York Fashion Week in February, the 23-year-old inked a deal to become the face of the brand’s new fragrance My NY. As a self-professed sneaker-head (for two years Ora worked in a sneaker store in London), she is also collaborating with Adidas on a collection of athletic wear.
Ora is quick to credit a healthy lifestyle for much of her success. She is a devout fan of the grueling and ultrahealthy Viva Mayr detox camp in Austria, as evidenced by her figure (which she frequently flaunts for her two million-plus Instagram followers).
Ora’s personal mantra, she says, is, “Just be confident enough to deal with what you have to do. And be understanding and supportive of what everyone else is doing, and how hard they’re working.” It’s that confidence that helped her land her biggest movie role yet. But we had to ask: Will she be in any of Fifty Shades’ steamy sex scenes? “Um, no,” she says. “Maybe next movie.”
