Entertainment

Rita Ora Is All About Girl Power

by Jaclyn Anglis

It seems like every other day, female stars are making headlines for feuding with other women in Hollywood — regardless of whether these reports are true or not. Well, it's safe to say that you can count Rita Ora out of that for the time being. Rita Ora opened up about championing women who are successful and independent in a new interview with Nylon magazine. The British singer-songwriter talked about the importance of her own female friendships and why she is so happy to build other successful women up rather than tearing them down.

She said,

I've always been really outspoken about it, like telling another woman, "You killed it." I don't think a lot of females do that these days, especially in this industry. It's the same with all of my friends — with Charli [XCX], with Iggy [Azalea], with Cara [Delevingne], and Katy Perry, who's an amazing person inside and out and so talented, the biggest star in the world. She's always been the same, and she's just so funny and fun and loud and really cool. I'm like, "Yeah! That's what I wanna be like! I wanna stay that way!" You've gotta really be sacred with these friendships, 'cause people can corrupt them.

Ora clearly has a strong, star-studded support system, so it's a good thing that she is publicly supportive of her female peers in the music industry. It says a lot about her that she has been able to develop these friendships in the first place, but it also shows her steadfast dedication to them that she continues to show the same support and encouragement for them in interviews. As Ora implies, the entertainment business can be a cutthroat place to be, especially for women. After all, Hollywood has a bad reputation for pitting female stars against one another. It's worth applauding Ora for refusing to limit her relations with other female stars as simply competition.

Sadly, whether it's a reported backstabbing between female costars of a show, like Lea Michele and Naya Rivera of Glee, or passive aggressive criticisms between female singers, like Sinead O'Connor and Miley Cyrus, or an ongoing, outright bashing of another woman's character, like the feud between Brandi Glanville and LeAnn Rimes, female celebrity news seems to thrive off of these headlines. Who can forget the news' fixation on the Mariah Carey versus Nicki Minaj fight on American Idol that arguably overshadowed the actual contest on the show? Or the recently reported "bad blood" between Taylor Swift and Katy Perry? It's not so often that you hear women in Hollywood saying entirely positive things about their peers — even if they're saying them — which is why it's so important that Ora is taking a stand to do so and important that her words are heard.

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When Ora's fans see her having a positive collaboration with Iggy Azalea, Charli XCX, and Cara Delevingne, as pictured above, she serves as a positive role model for them. She shows that women can, in fact, be successful AND support and encourage one another to follow their dreams, regardless of what industry they are part of. You have to hand it to her for promoting some serious girl power!

You can check out the full interview with Ora in Nylon's March 2015 issue, which hits stands on Feb. 24.

Images: Getty Images