Maya Jama went from a budding TV presenter to becoming the face of the UK’s hottest dating series, Love Island – here’s what we know about her.
Maya Jama‘s career is showing no signs of stopping, from hosting Britain’s biggest shows to becoming a global brand ambassador. The stunning brunette entered the industry as a radio DJ for Rinse FM and is now on her second season as Love Island‘s host.
Maya Jama’s age and ethnicity explored
Despite over a decade in the entertainment industry, Maya is still very young.
She was born on August 14th, 1994 making her 28 years old. As a Bristol native, Maya attended Cotham School as a youngster but once admitted that she doesn’t have the fondest memories as a student.
Due to her mixed ethnic background, the former The Circle host once admitted that she was bullied in school because of her East African roots.
Speaking in her Soundcloud Receipts Podcast, Maya said:
“When they asked me where I’m from I used to be like ‘yeah I’m Spanish and Jamaican’ or something like that. And just made a whole completely new background because I didn’t want people to judge me from where I was from.”
Maya is of Somali descent from her father’s side, and Swedish descent from her mother.
The celeb also explained that her surname “Jama” is a very common name in Somali, calling it “the equivalent to Jones in the UK”.
Maya Jama’s Upbringing
As reported by The Guardian, Maya Jama had a traumatic upbringing.
Her dad was consistently in prison following strings of small sentences that involved violence. Maya cut off all contact with her father from the age of 12 and only regained contact with him from 2017 onwards.
Tragically, Maya’s teen boyfriend was shot and killed in a pub in 2011 when she was 16 years old.
Speaking about the death of Rico Jordan, Maya recalled:
That’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to me. It was unreal – the sort of thing that happens in films.
Maya’s name was inspired by an American activist
If – like us – you think Maya’s name has a pretty ring to it, then you may be wondering where the name came from.
Maya’s mother was reading a memoir by poet Maya Angelou when she found the inspiration for the baby name.
Maya told Elle:
My mum was stuck for names and when she was reading [Angelou’s book] she was like, ‘I like that name, she’s amazing.’
Inside Maya Jama’s dating life
Maya confirmed her single status ahead of her Love Island debut in January 2023, but she’s dated some famous faces over the years.
Stormzy
The TV star’s most notable romance was with grime artist Stormzy, real name Michael Ebenezer Kwadjo Omari Owuo Jr. Maya Jama and Stormzy’s relationship began when she was 20 years old and he was about 21 years old in 2015. At the time, Maya and Stormzy hadn’t reached major success in their respective fields yet, but they were deemed as “couple goals” by fans.
They reportedly crossed paths at a Red Bull Culture Clash event when Stormzy achieved underground success and Jama was working with MTV.
Maya and Stormyz split in 2019 and sparked romance rumors in 2022 after being spotted together at the same event. Jama’s representatives confirmed they hadn’t reunited and remain “great friends”.
Ben Simmons
Maya and NBA player Ben Simmons dated for one year and a half before calling it quits in August 2022. Things became serious after the TV presenter was photographed flashing a dazzling diamond ring in January 2022.
The presenter seemingly confirmed their engagement with a photo of a necklace captioned with the date “12/18/21” on her Instagram Story, adding a ring emoji to signify the date of the big day.
They broke up in summer 2022 and she has not been publically linked with any celebrity since. We think Maya can definitely stir things up as a Love Island bombshell.