As Maya Jama and Stormzy split, can you stay friends with an ex?
Maya Jama and Stormzy have announced they have split nearly 11 months after rekindling their relationship.
The Love Island presenter, 29, and the rapper, 30, whose real name is Michael Omari, posted a joint statement to Instagram announcing the breakup, and asking fans for the ‘grace to let both of us keep moving’.
“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 an, 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.
“We fell madly in love in 2014, broke up in 2019, and then spent five years maneuvering 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.”
They add that they were aged just 21 and 20 when they first met, and were both at the beginning of their careers.
“[We] spent five years growing together 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 OK,” they wrote.
“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 from the drama and avoids speculation and rumours. We’re kindly asking for the grace to let both of us keep moving and not be bothered about it.”
The pair signed off with ‘Mike & MJ x’, signalling that they had written it together.
In the statement, they indicated that they will remain friends – joining the 69% of adults who claim they have stayed friends with an ex following a breakup.
Last year, we reported on a study that found that those aged between 45 and 54 were the age group most likely to remain chummy with an ex post-breakup, with 74% admitting to doing so.
However, 42% of the 18-24-year-old respondents in the Lovehoney survey said that relations between them and their ex remained ‘hostile’.
Psychotherapist, Rachel Wright, told Yahoo UK at the time: “There are lots of benefits to being friends with an ex-partner. In fact, it's called de-escalating the relationship.
“We tend to start any relationship as friends, even if we're dating with an intent to be in a romantic relationship: the foundation is the same – a friendship/relationship.”
However, Wright suggested taking two months, or 60 days, following the breakup to process your feelings before deciding to move forward with a friendship.
“Try to think about all relationships as relationships – friendships are relationships, partners are relationships, our family members we have relationships with – a relationship isn't synonymous with romance and sex,” she explained. “So, you get to decide what type of relationship you have with this person and if you want them in your life to begin with.”
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