Rita Ora's mother, Vera, has opened up about the effect her battle with breast cancer has had on her daughter.
The singer's mother, then aged 39, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005, after noticing an unusual ache.
After requesting a mammogram, she discovered that she was in the early stages of the disease. She also had three lymph nodes under her armpit that tested positive for cancer.
Ora, who is a psychiatrist, began treatment immediately, undergoing radiotherapy, a mastectomy, and then chemotherapy.
In an interview with The Times, she opened up about how her illness affected daughter Rita, who was 15 at the time.
"(Rita is) much more sensitive," she reflected. "She was at Sylvia Young Theatre School at the time and rebelled a little, bunking off school for a couple of weeks - it was her mental escape.
"I later found out that she was struggling to face me and, because my diagnosis and treatment all happened so quickly, I wasn’t prepared for how to discuss it, either."
She went on to discuss the long-term implications that her illness had on the family, noting that it led to the Poison singer suffering from anxiety.
"Rita gets anxious and sometimes has panic attacks," she said. "I am always calling Rita to remind her to take aspirin before a long flight."
On the positives that came from the experience, Ora suggested that it brought about an increased appreciation for life.
"Having a serious illness in the family gives you a different perspective on life," she affirmed. "Money or status don’t make a difference to me. What’s important are health and family."
