10 March 2024 , 15:35
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Maya Jama has shared a new photo of her mum and her model brother Omar - and the family resemblance is striking.
The Love Island presenter, 29, posted a picture taken across a table of Omar, who is two years her junior, and their mum Sadie. She captioned it "brother an [sic] mother" - and if she hadn't, you could be forgiven for thinking that it was her in the photograph.
Swedish Sadie, who is 46 or 47, shares the same striking bone structure, thick, long hair, and large dark eyes as her famous daughter. In the photo, she is wearing all black, like Omar, and stares off to the left. Maya's mum gave birth to her when she was just 18, and then was left to raise her and Omar almost single-handedly.
Maya Jama posted this photo of her brother Omar and her mum Sadie (mayajama/instagram)
In another photo, Sadie hugs Omar (mayajama/instagram)Maya told the Evening Standard: "She had me at 18, so our relationship was a bit different. I rebelled less because I was quite free. My mum's always been like, 'I want you to have your experiences — just tell me. I'm not going to judge you or shout at you.'' Maya's dad, Hussein, wasn't around much while she was growing up, due to being in and out of prison.
However, Maya told Marie Claire that she didn't let his absence affect her too much. She said: "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.
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Maya and her brother in a previous social post (mayajama/Instagram)
The star looks a lot like her gorgeous mum (Maya Jama/Instagram)"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." She also told the magazine that she was grateful that her mum had found love again, and that she had seen what a healthy, loving relationship looks like.
She said: "When I was 10, my mum met my stepfather and he is the loveliest man. So I got to see a loving relationship, which I think is what can affect young women growing up without a dad – not experiencing love firsthand and seeing how a healthy relationship should be. Dad wasn't around, but I had all the love I needed from elsewhere."
The last time Hussein saw Maya was when she was working on a 2017 documentary about absent fathers for Channel Five called When Dads Kill: Murderer in the Family. The MailOnline tracked him down to their home city of Bristol, where said: "Of course, I'm sorry for everything that I did and if I could turn the clock back, I would change everything, who wouldn't but the past is done and there's nothing I can do.
"I know I wasn't the best father, and it broke my heart that I was banged up away from my children but I'm now straight. I just want to put things right between us because no one knows how long they have. I could get run over by a bus next week."