A Timeline of Maya Jama and Stormzy’s Love Story

Sparks first started to fly between the two nine years ago when Jama and Stormzy met for the first time in October 2014, reportedly at the Red Bull Culture Clash event in London. In a joint Vogue interview in 2018, four years after first meeting, they revealed they were officially dating by January 2015. Jama said: “You know, if I’m really honest, I knew I fancied him from the start. But I didn’t want anything yet, because, you know, you’re trying to do the whole friend situation first, and then I’d do, like, obvious hints that I fancied him and then take it back because I didn’t know if he definitely likes me. It was a childish phase. And then one day we just kissed, and that was that!”

They were both pictured together at the Rinse FM 20th Birthday Anniversary Dinner in December 2015 at St Martins Lane Hotel in London as they began taking their relationship from flirty friends to cool couple.

By the start of 2015, and around the age of 21 and 22, the pair were officially dating. Yet, with their still-rising celebrity status, their relationship went relatively under-the-radar and felt completely “normal”, Jama said. Appearing on Shopping with Keith Lemon in 2020, she sais: “We just had a normal relationship. 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.” By the end of the year they were dubbed the ultimate power couple by fans.

A year into their relationship, Stormzy penned his first song to Jama, releasing “Birthday Girl” in 2016, and she even starred in the video. Taking to Twitter at the time, Stormzy explained that the song was “for the Mrs”, but added that he wanted “any girl that hears it” to “vibe to it and play it on their birthday also and feel special”. Jama responded by telling Vogue it’s “the nicest present you can get from someone because it lasts forever”. A year later, in 2017, Jama also starred in the video for his critically-acclaimed single “Big For Your Boots” on his debut album.

By this point, social media and the press were all obsessed with Jama and Stormzy, and rightly so. Not only was Stormzy writing love-song-raps about his TV presenter girlfriend, but he was always gushing about her in public, too. In one interview with The Mirror in 2017, he claimed he was thinking of proposing. He said: “I’m still so young but I want to propose, it’s going to happen and I will do it right. She is so sick, she is the best.”

In 2018, the couple landed their first joint interview for the February issue of Vogue US, with a photoshoot shot in Leeds. The feature only accelerated their status further as the magazine named them “a supremely cool pair”.

Later that year, in an interview with OK Magazine, Jama spoke about their relationship and the key to making it work with the rapper. She said: “It just works, I don’t think there’s a recipe for good relationships. Obviously you’ve got to work at things as well, not everything is just smooth sailing the whole time.”

In August 2019, it was reported that Jama and Stormzy had decided to split after four years together. Rumours that Stormzy cheated soon started to swirl, which Stormzy quickly shut down. Although he did admit that he made “mistakes” later down the line and dedicated an apology song to Jama titled “Lessons” on his album “Heavy is The Head”, released in December 2019.

At the time, Jama deleted all their Instagram posts together and a representative shared the following statement: “Maya has moved out of their home in south west London. The decision isn’t one she has come to lightly, but ultimately the relationship has come to an end. She wants to focus on her TV and radio career for now.”

A year after their split, Stormzy opens up more and more in interviews about his former relationship. Speaking to Charlamagne Tha God in a YouTube interview, he described Jama as a “star girl”, before revealing his existing feelings for her. He said: “I’ve never loved anyone how I’ve loved her… I would love to be the man who she needs, I would love to do all the things that make this work. I want to marry her, I want to have her children.” He later revealed that Maya “appreciated” his song “Lessons”, too.

Later that year, Jama spoke about the publicity surrounding her relationship with Stormzy in an interview with Cosmopolitan, noting the difficulties with the public interest. She said: “It makes me nervous about who I’m going to be with next, because if they aren’t in the public eye already, maybe they’re going to be brought into it. It’s made me extra careful. I was 20 when I got into that [with Stormzy]. Now life is different. Even social media is bigger. It’s going to be harder to keep things private but I’ll do my best.”

Two years after her split from Stormzy, Jama is linked to Australian NBA basketball player, Ben Simmons. The two went public with their relationship in July 2021 where they were pictured kissing at Wimbledon.

Just five months later, Jama and Simmons were engaged, with a colossal ring spotted on that in December 2021. With Simmon’s living in New York playing for the Brooklyn Nets, Jama spent a lot of her time in the US as they worked on their long-distance relationship.

By August 2022, with Jama bagging the coveted gig of “Love Island” host and catapulting her career to new highs, she split with Simmons.

A few months after Jama’s breakup, Stormzy starred in a documentary with Louis Theroux for the BBC. During the chat, Stormzy admitted that he had made “mistakes” during his relationship with Jama, adding: “My breakup was probably the biggest catalyst for my growth as a man. It was like, ‘OK, you made a mistake and you lose someone you loved, someone you cared for, someone who is special to you.’ That’s probably the biggest loss a man can have, isn’t it? Away from someone passing away, that’s the biggest loss you can have.”

Rumours of a reconciliation between Jama and Stormzy began circulation when they were spotted at his headline gig at All Points East festival in East London over August bank holiday weekend. A week later, eagle-eyed fans became overnight detectives as they noticed the holiday pool Stormzy was sharing on his Instagram story was very, very similar to the one Maya was sharing too. A few days later paparazzi pictures appeared in The Daily Mail of the two holding hands in Greece.

On 7 October, the couple made their relationship status Instagram-official as Jama posted a cute Instagram story of Stormzy picking her up from the airport after she was away filming “Love Island Games”. He was holding a banner reading “Maya Jama #1 Fan”, alongside a picture of Maya Jama with red hair for her Dolce & Gabbana campaign.

Despite the rocky road, Stormzy and Maya have automatically reclaimed their couple goals status, and will inevitably go on to rival Posh & Becks as the ultimate power duo.