I DIDN'T LIKE MAYA LOOKS
Love Island host Maya Jama reveals crippling body insecurities that left her unable to leave her house
STUNNING TV presenter Maya Jama says she was once so self-conscious she would not go out.
Maya, 28, now oozes confidence in her gorgeous outfits on Love Island, at fashion shows and at big TV events such as the Brits and Baftas.
5
But that has not always been the case, with Maya once telling how her body image was crippling.
She said: “When I was younger, I was no boobs and no bum, like a boy figure.
“I was super skinny, a small size six.
“I used to get spots and if I had a super spotty forehead I wouldn’t go out — I thought they would see my spots and feel sick.”
READ MORE MAYA JAMA
But Maya has admitted that feeling so down on her looks is what helped shape the woman she is today.
Chatting with her friend Tia Ward on YouTube before she hit primetime, Maya said: “I thought ‘boys ain’t going to fancy me for my looks so I am going to have to make them fancy me for my personality’.
“Knowing you are more than your body, I know I am a nice and good person.”
Maya was born and raised in Bristol to Swedish mum Sadie and Somalian dad Hussein.
Most read in News TV
In the chat, which has been shared by fans since Maya took over from Laura Whitmore as host of Love Island, Maya credited her mum.
She said: “My mum installed so much self-love so they wouldn’t allow me to get in a super low place, that is one thing.
“I have never cried about my body or had any eating disorders.
“Even though everything around me could be going mental they would make sure I felt good, which is amazing.”
The support she received may be why why Maya feels so conscious of the responsibility she now holds as a poster girl to youngsters.
With 2.7million followers on Instagram, she is all too aware how posing in a string bikini or glamorous dress can affect others.
Continuing in the YouTube chat, Maya said: “I am used to getting comments saying you look nice, but I started getting messages saying ‘I am going to starve myself to get a body like this’. There were loads.
“That is not going to help anyone.
“You can’t see a picture and starve yourself.
“Some people chop off their waist and add to their bums but basing your image on an app — that is not the one.”
But Maya herself was not immune to the pressure.
She said: “I know all the tricks of the trade.
“I don’t even look like that, with my abs sucked in and an elongated belly, you just pose so you look a certain way but these girls don’t know that.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
“I will get caught up sometimes and be like, I want to look like that but you just have to know in yourself that is not reality.
“If you are so focused on what you look like and forget what is going on in here, forget a man, you won’t have any friends either.”
5
5
5
5
Topics