Taika Waititi says Robert Pattinson brought him and Rita Ora together years ago

Taika Waititi has revealed that Robert Pattinson introduced him to Rita Ora long before they began dating in 2021.

The couple are rumoured to have gotten married in an intimate ceremony earlier this year, but neither have officially confirmed the news yet.

The New Zealand-born filmmaker reportedly shared new details about his first meeting with Ora in conversation with Louis Theroux.

Their interaction was recorded on the set of Ora’s latest music video as part of the broadcaster’s forthcoming BBC Two interview with the “Poison” singer.

Speaking about their relationship, Waititi said: “We’ve actually known each other for years before we got together.

“The internet thinks we met in Australia. You know who brought her to my house was Robert Pattinson,” he continued, adding, “He brought her over when I was having a little barbecue thing and we got chatting and we became friends, we hit it off.”

The Thor: Love and Thunder director told Theroux he and Ora were “just mates” before becoming romantically involved.

“We were in relationships both of us and every time we’d just catch up where we left off and it was a good friendship. Then we decided to ruin it all,” he quipped, per a Metro report.

Elsewhere, Waititi said he and Ora bonded over their experiences “growing up in working class families” – despite hailing from different parts of the world.

“She’s from Kosovo and I’m from New Zealand, they’re very far away but our backgrounds were quite similar,” the 47-year-old said.

“We both grew up poor in working class families, her dad owned pubs and she hung out in pubs a lot when she was a kid and my mum worked in pubs and a lot of my family enjoy being in pubs so I was in pubs a lot as a kids.” the Oscar winner continued.

Ora and Waititi recently co-hosted the 2022 MTV EMAs together.

Theroux’s interview with the singer-songwriter is scheduled to air on Tuesday 29 November in the UK.