Rita Ora recalls ‘awkward’ encounter with idol Madonna

Pop singer appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to speak about new music, The Voice, and meeting Madonna

Rita Ora has claimed Madonna once got her to kneel on the floor so they were speaking in the right kind of light for her.

In an interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the pop star recalled meeting her idol in the “unbelievable” moment,  while she was working on a campaign for Madonna’s clothing line.

“I had an amazing moment with her, very awkward but also very unbelievable. She really just made me find my light and by doing that we had to kneel on the floor,” Ora said.

“And I thought it was ‘Like A Prayer’ in real life that was happening to me. I mean I had to go and breathe in the bathroom. This was earlier in my career. I was doing a campaign for her clothing line and so then she came to meet me and I loved it and I just couldn’t breathe.

“And then she was like, ‘This is not my light, let’s get down.’ I thought, ‘What? What’s happening?’ And so we did.”

Ora is currently in Australia filming The Voice, alongside fellow judges Keith Urban, Guy Sebastian and Jessica Mauboy.

She said she found Australia “amazing” and felt “very lucky” to be there.

Ora received national criticism last year after it emerged that she had flouted lockdown rules to throw a private birthday party for her and her friends at a restaurant in Notting Hill, London.

It was also revealed that, when Ora held the party, she was supposed to be quarantining after arriving from a private concert in Egypt.

Ora apologised for the scandal, saying she was “deeply sorry and embarrassed”.

Her new EP Bang was released last month.