Maya Jama thought she “was the reason” her father went to jail when she was a child, as she told police officers where he was hiding.
Maya Jama
The 25-year-old presenter’s father went to prison for around a year when Maya was younger, and she has now admitted she was traumatised when police officers took her father away, because she thought it was her fault he got arrested.
Recalling the scary experience, she said: “It’s normal. If you don't know anything else when you're younger than that's just your normal.
“You're told to tell the truth to police and stuff, so when he was hiding under the bed I thought I was the reason he went to jail for the first year because I told them he was hiding under the bed like they weren't going to find him anyway.”
Maya also spoke about how her childhood was different to that of her friends, as her dad wasn’t as “involved” as theirs.
She added: “I didn't really notice any difference until maybe secondary school when I started going to other people's houses, they'd have a different set up and their dads were really involved but mine I had to visit two hours down the motorway.
“It didn't really feel like too much of a problem because I have a really nice stepdad, he and my mum have been together for like 19 years now and he filled that void and my dad's side of the family like my aunties were really supportive.
“So they overcompensated for things I would lack in not having my dad around. My mum used to babysit a lot of the boys in area so they grew up and got really protective so I had like a million dads, which made me feel like I wasn't missing out too much I think.”
And despite her unconventional upbringing, Maya insists her childhood was “carefree”.
Speaking to Eddie Hearn on his BBC Sounds podcast, ‘No Passion No Point’, she said: “My life was carefree considering the bleurgh what was going around it, so I had a good time as a young teenager, then things got a bit serious at 16 but I had to move to London anyway because all of my auditions were there.”