Maya Jama, known for her jokey antics on Celebrity Juice and one of TV’s most in-demand presenters, has had a difficult time with her father.
Dad Hussein, 52, spent most of her young life in and out of jail and has opened up about how he wishes he had a relationship with the star.
Maya, born in Bristol to Hussein and Swedish mum Sadie, 45, is currently on our screens with ex-England striker Peter Crouch on Crouchy’s Year-Late Euros: Live.
But Hussein says she has cut him out of her life and he watches her on TV while hoping they may one day reconnect.
The dad told The Sun he spent time in and out of jail from the age of 17, but “calmed down” when Maya was born.
(Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images for Fashion For Relief)
“I can still remember staring into Maya’s eyes after she was delivered. When she was born, her mother and I looked at each other and said, ‘We made that’. I couldn’t believe how beautiful my daughter was,” he gushed.
Maya had a little brother, Omar, born two years later, and Hussein says they took little Maya to Glastonbury when she was only eight months old.
He explained music was ‘always’ playing in their flat, including soul and R&B and reggae, “the same stuff my daughter plays on the radio”.
(Image: Getty Images)
Hussein proudly remembers Maya declaring she would be “on TV one day” when she was only a toddler.
He added: “We never doubted her because she was a born entertainer.
“From the age of two, she would be singing on the bus to entertain all the other passengers.”
He opened up with special memories including when little Maya danced in the middle of the park when a brass band was playing until everyone applauded.
(Image: Maya Jama/Twitter)
But when she was two years old in 1996, police came knocking on the door looking for Hussein, who was later jailed for 12 months for glassing a man with a bottle.
Three years later he was back inside after he and his friend got into a fight with three other men.
He said it “broke his heart” to see Maya come to visit him in jail, and him not being able to tell her when he was coming home.
But it all became too much.
(Image: [“Tristan Fewings/Getty Images f)
Hussein says Maya got “fed up” of having to visit her dad behind bars as she grew up, and claimed she found it difficult to see friends who had their dad at the dinner table but he wasn’t.
The dad spoke to her in an emotional reunion for a Channel 5 documentary about families whose dads go to prison in 2017.
Like what you see? Then fill your boots…
There’s MUCH more where that came from! Want all the jaw-dropping stories from the world of showbiz and up to the minute news from TV and soaps?
Well, we’ve got you covered with our showbiz, TV and soaps newsletters – they’ll drop straight into your inbox and you can unsubscribe whenever you like.
We’ll bring you the inside track from telly expert Ed Gleave and soap specialist Sasha Morris. Oh, and your daily fix of Piers, Katie Price, Demi Rose and all your other Daily Star favs.
You can sign up here – you won’t regret it…
But the pair failed to reconnect and keep in touch after the show. In the programme, Maya stated: “I cut my dad out of my life because I couldn’t build a relationship with someone who was constantly disappearing back to prison.”
He said: “I was good to my word and kept out of trouble, but I haven’t spoken to her since. I have tried to contact Maya and just want to be in touch because life is too short.
“I’d love to take her out for a meal to put my side across and explain that I never meant to hurt her.”
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
