Rapper Stormzy has shocked fans by seemingly starting a new romance three months after his split from presenter Maya Jama. Stormzy, real name Michael Owuo Jr., was pictured embracing and kissing US singer Victoria Monet, 35, at London's Heathrow Airport. In pictures obtained by The Sun, the "Crown" artist looked smitten as he gave Victoria a hug that lifted her off the ground followed by a kiss on the lips.
Last month, Victoria revealed in statement that she had split from her fitness instructor boyfriend John Gaines in late 2023. The former couple share a three-year-old daughter Hazel. The toddler stole the show at the Grammys in February as the family walked the red carpet together. In a long statement Monet and Gaines announced their split writing:
"With good intentions, we honestly have been avoiding a formal statement about something as natural and as personal as love. We originally preferred to keep this out of the public (as announcing this publicly is sure to make pain resurface) but it is becoming more and more difficult to suppress. Yes, we have seen all of the questions and extremely false accusations of our origin story and we have thought long and hard about whether we owed it to anyone to explain where we are as we heal, since we understand how social media can magnify the truth or run far with untruths. Ultimately we decided to be open and address it in hopes to put a period on the question marks for the sake of our healing process."
"We spent the last 10 months trying to respectfully and privately navigate the fact that we are no longer in a relationship. Though we still completely adore and respect each other, we are not a couple anymore. There was no infidelity, toxic behavior nor drama. We both just have some fundamental growing to do that would be best done apart so we can remain the best versions of ourselves for our daughter. It simply didn’t work out and that’s okay. We still think the world of each other and operate with love in every interaction for our family. We have an incredible daughter to raise for life and that is undoubtedly our number 1 priority forever. No relationship status can remove or replace that fact. We are committed to doing the inner work and trust that God will place us both where we belong in due time."
The statement concluded:
"To all of our supporters, friends and family, thank you for your love, care and concern. Please allow us the peace and space to maintain a safe and happy environment to continue to co-parent to the best of our ability for Hazel! We plan to remain a family regardless of our public facing title, so please when you see us together with Hazel, be understanding and gentle. We appreciate you all for hearing us out and hope to be kept in your well intentioned prayers. Thank you. Sincerely Victoria and John."
Back in July, Maya Jama and Stormzy broke the internet when they shared on their Instagram stories they had ended their relationship. The couple's statement read: "We've been laughing whilst drafting this because we never, ever, in a million years thought we'd be the couple announcing a breakup. 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 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."