By Joshua Haigh
All the way back in 2016, Ora became the subject of intense speculation that she had slept with Jay-Z.
The rumours emerged after Beyonce鈥檚 smash hit 2016 album Lemonade featured a track about a man cheating on a woman whom she referred to as 鈥淏ecky with the good hair鈥.
Ora, 34, found herself at the centre of the rumours after fans accused her of being the woman that Beyonce was singing about on the feisty track.
Speaking on Davina McCall鈥檚 Begin Again podcast, Ora has revealed that the rumour left her devastated because of the respect she has for Beyonce and Jay Z, whose label she had previously been signed to when she rose to fame
鈥淏ehind closed doors, [Beyonce] is literally my fairy godmother, she was my protector – that鈥檚 what鈥檚 insane because there was nothing but love,鈥 she said.
鈥淎nd, you know, again, being signed to Jay-Z, her husband, she being my biggest inspiration, she came to my first show in New York at The Box and I sang Say My Name in front of Beyonce when I was 21.鈥
鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 real,鈥 Ora insisted. 鈥淚 wish I had good hair! None of that was real. That was the first time I experienced what it means to be in a messy situation, I guess.鈥
Rumours of Jay-Z鈥檚 infidelity first emerged when security camera footage caught Beyonce鈥檚 sister Solange attacking the rapper in an elevator.
Beyonce鈥檚 critically acclaimed album Lemonade was released in 2016 then added fuel to the fire.
Then, in an interview with The New York Times, Jay-Z finally came clean about the rumours, but stopped at revealing who the other woman was.
鈥淪o even with women, you gonna shut down emotionally, so you can鈥檛 connect 鈥. In my case, like, it鈥檚 deep,鈥 he shared. 鈥淎nd then all the things happen from there: infidelity. We were using our art almost like a therapy session. And we started making music together. And then the music she was making at that time was further along. So her album came out as opposed to the joint album that we were working on. Um, we still have a lot of that music. And this is what it became. There was never a point where it was like, 鈥業鈥檓 making this album.鈥 I was right there the entire time.鈥