On Wednesday morning, the chart-topping rapper and Love Island host shared a statement on Instagram, confirming they had made the mutual decision to go their separate ways, just under a year after reuniting.
“We’ve been laughing whilst drafting this because we never, ever, in a million years thought we’d be the couple announcing a breakup,” they began. “But for the sake of clarity and, 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 statement continued: “We fell madly in love in 2014, broke up in 2019, and then spent five years manoeuvring 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.
“We were 21 and 20 when we first met-both at the beginning of our careers-and spent five years growing together and 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 okay.”
The pair insisted they “still think the absolute world of each other”, and “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,” they noted, urging fans not to “cause a fuss” if they are seen “having a lil catch-up at the Brits or something” in the not-too-distant future.
The pair continued: “Announcing this feels so dramatic, but we’re doing it so that it kind of takes away the drama and avoids speculation and rumours.
“We’re kindly asking for the grace to let both of us keep it moving and not be bothered about it (we highly doubt this’ll work, but we’re still kindly asking anyway.”
They signed off the message: “Mike and MJ x”
Stormzy and Maya first began dating in 2015, before eventually going their separate ways in 2019.
The award-winning musician previously referenced the break-up on his 2022 album This Is What I Mean, which became his third consecutive release to reach number one in the UK charts.
Last summer, the two sparked rumours they had reunited after being spotted on holiday together, before hard-launching their reconciled romance on a red carpet months later.