Maya Jama's 'whole world' changed when her first love was killed

Maya Jama’s “whole world” changed when her first love was shot dead.

The presenter recalls how, at the age of 16, she lost her boyfriend, who was shot dead by a bullet which was meant for someone else rather than her boyfriend.

She said: “I got to 16 and I met a boy. He was killed in the summer I was supposed to move to London – and that was my first love. So then your whole world just changes as you’re a little girl and you realise, ‘All right, this is adult stuff going on.’ I was devastated, I was so sad.”

Maya weeped as she discussed how her father was in and out of jail as a kid.

Speaking on Foxy’s Fearless 48 Hours, she added: “I had a situation where my dad was in and out of jail from three. At the time, I didn’t think it bothered me. It was all I knew so that was normal. I don’t like crying about that stuff. I have to laugh or I get emotional. I’m OK now, but obviously I’m sad for my little, younger self that I had to deal with that. I feel happy that I made a good situation out of some bad ones.”

Meanwhile, Maya previously revealed she was happy to laugh off her dad’s absence during her childhood.

She shared: “Anything that seems tragic or could make people feel sorry for me, I make a joke out of. I guess it’s because I’m OK with it. I’ve accepted it and I don’t want you making me feel like you’re sorry for me. If people said, ‘Where’s your dad?’ I’d say, ‘Oh, he’s in jail’ and I’d laugh about it. It wasn’t something I sat at home and cried about.”