We learned last month that Taika Waititi and Rita Ora were dating, and people were really… confused. We’re still confused. There are a lot of people who follow all of the news about Taika, and for the past year or so, he hasn’t been really hiding how messy his personal life has gotten. While he was Oscar-campaigning during the 2020 season, he was LA-based and going solo to events. We found out later that he and his wife Chelsea Winstanley had separated in 2018-19 (or maybe earlier) and that Taika had been dating other people, including his assistant.
So how did Taika and Rita Ora meet? Well, he’s in Australia, directing, and Rita is now spending part of the year in Australia to film the Oz version of The Voice. So… they’re in the same country at the same time. As Hecate covered, Rita and Taika let everyone know they were dating when Rita made it Instagram-Official. And now they’re pap-stroll official. They were photographed walking around Bondi Beach, where Taika has a home. They got breakfast and looked coupled-up. So this is definitely happening.
What is Rita Ora’s deal? Remember when she dated Andrew Garfield? That felt like it came out of nowhere, but this relationship with Taika is really next-level WTFery. Oh well, I hope they’re enjoying themselves. The quarantine in Australia is no-joke and the country will likely be shut down for travellers/tourists until the middle of next year. I assume Rita will be able to fly out of Oz when she wraps on The Voice, but it will be difficult for her to fly back in to see Taika. Love in a pandemic.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
Ahhh, I completely missed that he had separated from his wife! So I WASN’T imagining him being a little flirty with Phoebe Waller-Bridge during the 2019/2020 award season! Whelp, it’s a pity but not too surprising either.
Oh man, THAT I would be into.
Once she has to leave Australia, they’re over. He’ll probably move onto another young woman, and she’s seen with the next WTF guy
They both have been partying hard/up late puffy faces. Hopefully they have fun because both are train wrecks.
Yeah they both look completely hungover and miserable. Reminds me of why I stopped drinking 2 years ago.
Yikes I literally thought this was Madonna…
what is it with middle-aged men post significant break up wearing clothes that make them look like overgrown toddlers?
Taika has dressed like that for years. During the Thor: Ragnarok press tour, he was wearing rompers with loud prints. I think he has always been extra and a little Taika goes a long, long way.
Is Rita Ora the female Pete Davidson?
I literally commented on another post that I’m shipping those two. Wake me up when they hook up!
Frankly, I am looking forward to their eventual hook up.
I don’t think they’re an odd couple at all because they both seem messy af and thirsty as hell. What in the world are these outfits?
I noticed he hadn’t been photographed with his wife in awhile. Good for him for getting out. Let’s be honest, Rita is beautiful. Do they seem like they are in it for the long haul? Not really. But let em have fun. Even if it is totally random.
Good for him for getting out? Is his wife a monster?
I read that as “getting out and about”. but maybe I”m wrong.
Good for him for getting out?
Surely good for her for getting out. Chelsea Winstanley is great while Taika seems a mess. Like his enormous success (because he is indeed good at his job) has brought the bad things out.
My thoughts on him exactly. He’s funny and a good director BUT he’s just too much. I know nothing about the wife. Their daughter is really cute.
yes, as sad it is to admit that really capable and talented people are probably an example hard work and believing in yourself, but not necessarily an example in morality. His very much deserved fame and recognition went way too far into his head.
AFAIK, his wife is a documentary maker who did a lot of good work against domestic violence and for the promotion of Maori culture and heritage. Taika has often talked about his pride in his Maori side, so they seemed a great match. Perhaps they even were.
But now he seems like a total manchild.
The daughters are very young too.
Seriously? To me, Ora has always been the epitome of needy, greedy shabby tackiness.
Taika ditched the wife and kids in NZ the first time around filming Thor to party and mess with his assistant. She was a producer on a ton of his films and kept quiet about what a mess he was all during award season. And now his sad middle aged self is being papped on walk of shames with a 30 year old hanger on.
Yeah, his ex has been pure class throughout all of this except for a snide comment about the assistant being his date to the Oscars. If I were her I probably would have been leaking a lot more and hanging him out to dry,
Chelsea Winstanley seems cool and smart af and I genuinely want to be her friend haha
I’ll be honest.
I don’t find her beautiful. I find her try-hard, for both style and fame. as noted above, “needy, greedy shabby tackiness”.
I’ve been hearing her name for years now, but I couldn’t pick her out of a lineup, and I still don’t know WTF she actually does, Does she have a day job? Is she an actress? Singer? Model? No idea! As far as I can tell, her “job” appears to be dating the most random male celebrities she can find.
Deleted, I meant to reply to Miss Margo, not here.
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Will they both come back to the states so he can edit Thor 4? She lives in the UK, right? I wonder if she met his kids yet.
He will film and produce Our Flags Mean Death in June in LA. I’ll bet she will join him there as well. She has become extremely unpopular in the UK due to her breaking Covid rules repeatedly.
I wondered where that was going to shoot, and if they are using any practical sets for the what must be water scenes for a pirate tv show. Thor 4 wraps in AU end of May.
I think people overestimate how much time Taika spends in Australia or New Zealand. He may have a home in Australia, but there are lots of off-hand comments made by LA-based entertainment reporters which indicate that he actually lives in Los Angeles most of the time. Plus he’s very scene-y/attention-wh*re-y. He has access to more 20-something instagram influencers in Los Angeles. The pandemic has shifted things, but if California is fully open after Thor wraps, he’ll be on the first plane back.
**I don’t care about the hookups now that he’s single, but it’s pretty clear he was doing it while still married, and that sucks. If he were a woman, mugging the way he does, so obviously in love with himself, he would be hated online.
Yep. The new Mad Max starts filming next month so Hemsworth/Thor should be wrapping soon. TW and all those Hollywood types who rode out the pandemic overseas will be back for summer. He’ll go back to his 20-somethings and Rita will do whatever it is Rita does.
LOL at both of their outfits.
I actually really liked her outfit until she took the sweater off. I may need a black bucket hat in my life.
Seriously. Put the Gucci tracksuits back on!
He has a lot of grey for a 45 year old man. That’s all I’ve got.
and I’ve got a lot of grey hair for a 37 year old woman 👩🏼🦳 sometimes that happens…I actually find that quite beautiful personally.. now Taika’s inflated ego, yeah not so much
Honestly his outfit isn’t out of place for the trendy, sceney vibes of Bondi Beach.