By Bonnie McLaren, Culture reporter
Stormzy and Maya Jama have announced they have split up.
The rapper and Love Island presenter shared a joint statement on Instagram, saying they had been trying to make their relationship work since they got back together last year.
“We tried, and it didn’t work, and that’s okay,” they said.
The post started: “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.”
The pair said they fell “madly in love in 2014” before breaking up five years later.
“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,” they said.
“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.”
The pair added that they would remain friends, and asked for people “not to cause a fuss” if they see them catching up if they cross paths in the future at events like The Brit Awards.
“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.”
The post ended: “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).
“Love you guys and thank you for all the love you’ve showered us with, it’s been beautiful.”
