Maya Jama and Stormzy have ended their relationship a year after rekindling their romance, the Love Island presenter has confirmed.
The 29-year-old and the rapper, 30, had officially reunited in August 2023, announcing their relationship during a romantic getaway in Greece.
In an Instagram statement on Wednesday, Jama revealed they have once again parted ways, admitting they had spent the past year trying to "make it work."
The post began “We've been laughing whilst drafting this because we never, ever, in a million years thought we'd be the couple announcing a breakup, but for the sake of clarity and, more importantly, to allow us the space and grace that's needed for us both to be able to navigate this next bit of our lives with peace, we thought it might be best to.
“We fell madly in love in 2014, broke up in 2019, and then spent five years manoeuvring life apart.
“We decided to try for the final time in August 2023, and we've spent this past year trying our best to make it work; however, we recently decided to call it quits,” the statement continued.
“We were 21 and 20 when we first met-both at the beginning of our careers-and spent five years growing together and then five years growing separately, so this final attempt required a whole lot of figuring out, relearning, and unlearning. We tried, and it didn't work, and that's okay.
“We still think the absolute world of each other, we still care and respect each other, we are still grateful for the time we've had together, and we are still friends and will always be friends (so if you see us having a lil catch-up at The Brits or something, don't cause a fuss, we are dawgs!).
“Announcing this feels so dramatic, but we're doing it so that it kind of takes away the drama and avoids speculation and rumours. We're kindly asking for the grace to let both of us keep it moving and not be bothered about it (we highly doubt this'll work, but we're still kindly asking anyway 0).”
“Love you guys and thank you for all the love you've showered us with, it's been beautiful! Mike & MJ x,” it concluded.
The couple, who first went public with their romance in 2016, had previously been together for five years before their initial split in 2019.
Their split comes just a week after they appeared together at The British Grand Prix, where Jama was seen supporting Stormzy during his headline performance at the event.
Just days earlier, they were seen looking affectionate at Glastonbury, and the presenter had also been seen supporting him at his new bar in Soho.
When the couple initially parted ways in 2019, Stormzy publicly declared he had "never loved anyone the way I've loved her," sparking hope among fans that they would rekindle their romance.
However, Jama has previously spoken about how their relationship began, noting that “no one” cared at the time, so they didn't feel like a celebrity couple.
She said: “I didn't ever feel like a celebrity couple. Everyone else made it like that. We just had a normal relationship. And then everyone was just talking about it.
“We met when we were like 20, before anyone cared about us. So then it was just a normal relationship. Basically, I always said it was like a normal relationship but people wanted to look at it more and talk about it more.”
In 2019, Jama’s representatives confirmed the couple were no more, revealing at the time: “I can confirm the relationship has ended and Maya has separated from Stormzy.”
During their four-year separation, she moved on, even getting engaged to NBA star Ben Simmons in December 2021 after seven months of dating. However, they parted ways in August 2022, citing their demanding work schedules as the reason. She was even linked to actor Leonardo DiCaprio but denied the reports on her social media, telling fans last April: “move on”.
Speculation about the pair rekindling their romance began swirling after they were spotted at his headline gig at All Points East festival in East London during the August bank holiday.
A week later, eagle-eyed fans put their investigative skills to work when they noticed that the background in each of their holiday pictures had a striking similarity and that they were in fact holidaying together in the same villa in Hydra, Greece. Shortly after, paparazzi snapped photos of the two holding hands on their not-so-secret holiday.
The couple then finally confirmed their relationship last October following months of reports when Jama posted an adorable Instagram story of Stormzy picking her up from the airport after she wrapped up filming the Love Island spin-off, Love Island Games.
The following month, they marked their first public appearance together attending British Vogue's Forces for Change party.
