Rita Ora's gushing statement about loving husband after string of high-profile romances

MTV EMA's host and pop singer Rita Ora dated a string of famous faces - including reality TV stars, singers and DJs - before she finally found love with Taika Waititi

Rita Ora has a long history of dating some big names in showbiz before she fell in love with her husband.

The pop icon, 33, hosted the MTV EMA last night and paid tribute to late One Direction star Liam Payne, who tragically died last month. Fighting back tears, she said: "He had the biggest heart, he was always the first person to offer help in any way that he could. He put so much joy into every room he walked in. And he left such a mark on this world."

Rita, who collaborated with Liam on their hit single For You, had a string of high-profile romances with famous stars before she tied the knot with New Zealand actor and director Taika Waititi. The couple married in 2022 and have been happy in love ever since, with the singer lavishing words of praise on her husband in social media posts.

Last year, she touchingly shared how Taika had shown her the meaning of love in a sweet statement for his birthday. She wrote: "Happy birthday to the funnest smartest man I have ever come across in my life. You keep me together in moments I don't think I can. Thank you for showing me what love really is. Here's to many more moments of me stealing your jokes and telling them 10x louder so people think I'm the funny one. I LOVE YOU."

Rita previously revealed that although their romance seems like a whirlwind, the pair knew each other for around six years before taking things to the next level. She told Drew Barrymore on her chat show that things just "collided" for the couple and their blossoming relationship.

"I don't even know how to explain. Everything just went..." she told Drew, motioning her hands colliding with one another. "It genuinely just went like that," she said, snapping her fingers.

The couple have even collaborated together on a music video, which she says went "really well". "We deal with it really well, we just put our heads down and just put it into the work to be honest. It's been super nice to have his support, and we just have this really great connection like musically, as well as creatively," she told Attitude.

Before Taika, Rita had a complex and complicated love life, dating DJs, reality TV stars, rappers and even an X Factor winner. She was seeing singer Bruno Mars after he was hired to help Rita write songs - and love quickly bloomed. "It was love at first sight, such a great experience," Rita once told a German magazine.

"We met in 2009. I was 18 and starting out at Roc Nation. Bruno was unknown back then too." Drake and the star were also linked after he originally wrote her breakout track, RIP, for his ex-girlfriend Rihanna. But when RiRi didn't want it, it found a home with Rita in 2012 and a relationship was reportedly born.

They were apparently spotted snogging backstage at a gig and Rita even gave him a black ruby gemstone ring that belonged to her grandfather, which Drake admitted was one of his most treasured possessions. X Factor winner James Arthur also claimed they got together in her tour bus one night after she requested a meeting with him in 2012.

He wrote in his autobiography, Back To The Boy: "There was a lot of magic there and it was an amazing night. Rita seemed really, really into me, but I still couldn't quite believe it. Me and Rita met up a few more times after that and had some more amazing nights. 'I'm in love with you,' she told me one night.

"She said it so sincerely I wanted to believe her, though it seemed insane." But James claimed that one day she just "disappeared" and he realised it was over when he saw her pictured with other men. "I was heartbroken. It hit me really hard," he said.

She also had an on-off romance with American musician Andrew Watt that rumbled from 2016 until 2018, and then briefly again in 2019. During the 2018 hiatus, the Hot Right Now singer was linked to Spider-Man actor Andrew Garfield. Prior to him, she reportedly dated Formula One ace Lewis Hamilton in 2016 and Blink 182 star Travis Barker in 2015.

The singer was rumoured to have briefly dated rap star bad boy Chris Brown in 2015 - mainly due to a steamy music video they starred in together for the track Body On Me. And in 2012, she had a romance with Rob Kardashian but they split after he sensationally accused her of cheating "with 20 dudes" in an outrageous Twitter outburst.

He later took back the claim but the damage was done. Rita also had a 14-month romance with Tommy Hilfiger's son, Ricky Hill, from 2014.

Perhaps most famously, however, she dated Scottish DJ Calvin Harris from 2013 until June 2014 - but the romance ended in explosive fashion with the bitter scotsman reportedly blocking Rita from releasing tracks they had recorded together. The DJ later attempted to downplay rumours he banned Rita from releasing the tracks, insisting that they just weren't up to standard.

For Rita's part, she said things "got weird" when he wrote and produced the number one track I Will Never Let You Down for her. "It was more of a thing where I was in awe. I was at that point in my relationship where I felt he could do no wrong. I thought he had my back and that he'd never steer me wrong," she told Marie Claire.

"But then I Will Never Let You Down came out, and everything started to go a bit weird. I don't know if it was because business was mixed with personal or what."