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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Saffron Otter

Love Island host Maya Jama's family life - lookalike mum 'mistaken for sister' and tragic loss at 16

The highly-anticipated Love Island winter edition returns tonight for its second season - and this time will see Maya Jama take over the hosting duties for the first time.

ITV viewers might be familiar with the much-loved presenter for her work with Radio 1 and appearances on other TV shows - including BBC One's Peter Crouch: Save Our Summer and Glow Up: Britain's Next Make-Up Star.

But it hasn't been an easy journey into stardom for the 28-year-old. Here, we take a look at her family life and rise to fame - including her lookalike mum Sadie...

Maya Jama attends the filming of ITV1's "The BRITs Are Coming" nominations announcement for The BRIT Awards 2022 (Getty Images)
Maya Jama started out with a YouTube channel (Dave Benett/Getty Images for The Birley Clubs)

Maya now lives in London but was born and raised in Bristol.

She was brought up by her mum Sadie - who was a teenager when she gave birth to Maya - and was named after the US activist Maya Angelou.

She also has a younger brother, Omar, who is now 25.

Up until recently, she didn't reveal too much about her mother, but has shared pictures of her gorgeous mum - who is of Swedish descent - on social media.

Many commented on how similar the pair looked, with some saying her 'beautiful' mum looked 'ageless'. And Maya herself even admitted to her mum looking like her sister.

Maya and Sadie (Instagram)

She captioned one post: "Bring your mum to work day today. Had so much fun on @mrs.brownsboysofficial coming sooon & I know she looks like my sister. Gene game [strong]."

The star has opened up about their relationship in the past, telling the Evening Standard: "She had me at 18, so our relationship was a bit different. I rebelled less because I was quite free.

"My mum's always been like, 'I want you to have your experiences - just tell me. I'm not going to judge you or shout at you.''

Maya is the new host of Winter Love Island 2023 (Charlie Sperring/REX/Shutterstock)

And on Mother's Day in March 2019, she thanked Sadie for teaching her to be "unforgivably herself", adding: "praying I have your genes n look 20 when I’m your age too".

Maya sometimes posts throwback snaps of her baby brother too.

In 2015, she celebrated his birthday with a heartfelt post which read: "Been looking through pictures of me n Omar all morning, so proud of the funny intelligent clean hearted man you've become! #bdayclart".

Maya and her younger brother (mayajama/Instagram)
She sometimes shares snaps of 'family time' (mayajama/Instagram)

And on Christmas Day last year, she shared a series of snaps of the two of them enjoying a 'family pamper' - including a selfie video in a mirror showing them wearing undereye patches.

Meanwhile, her father, Hussein, was in prison for most of her childhood and at the age of 12, decided to stop visiting him.

Speaking with the Guardian in 2017, she said: "It was normal for me. My dad's side of my family was super-supportive and they did everything in their power to make me and my brother not feel like we were missing out on anything".

Her mum Sadie met Maya's stepdad when she was 10 and saw him as a loving father figure - and says their partnership taught her about healthy relationships.

In an interview with Marie Claire, she said: "When I was 10, my mum met my stepfather and he is the loveliest man.

"So I got to see a loving relationship, which I think is what can affect young women growing up without a dad – not experiencing love first-hand and seeing how a healthy relationship should be."

Maya, who has dated artist Stormzy on and off, lost her first serious boyfriend Rico Gordon when she was just 16.

Maya makes her Love Island debut (ITV)

He was caught up in the crossfire of a gang attack in 2011 and was killed - leaving her heartbroken, while the tragic incident changed her outlook on life forever.

The TV star admitted that she "statistically should have gone off the rails" after her boyfriend was shot, but that her career saved her from a downward spiral.

Speaking to Cosmopolitan about her past, Maya admitted the experience of losing someone so close to her has made her "fearless".

She said: "When I was 16 I went through a lot. With my boyfriend passing, it gave me a fearless approach to things. I felt like life was really short."

As a teen, Maya set up her own YouTube channel and worked hard to achieve her dream before scooping a string of successful presenting gigs including for JumpOff.TV, Sky UK's TRACE Sports and later even assisted with coverage of the 2014 football World Cup in Brazil.

Her first big gig was as the host of MTV’s The Wrap Up, before moving on to host MTV Essentials and MTV News.

Maya was announced as the new Love Island host last year taking over from Laura Whitmore, who departed over 'conflicting projects’ and 'difficult elements of the show.’

Love Island returns tonight at 9pm on ITV2.

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