Maya Jama and Stormzy are the latest celeb couple to split because he was broody and she wasn’t ready for babies

Deciding to have children is the biggest commitment for any couple – whether they’re your everyday folk or mixing in Hollywood circles.

But when a duo – no matter how famous – can’t agree on if or when to start a family, it can often result in the break down of the relationship.

This appears to be case for Maya Jama and Stormzy, who announced on Wednesday they had ‘recently decided to call it quits’ with a joint Instagram statement.

Sources told MailOnline the couple conflicted over when to settle down, with the BRIT Award winner keen to have children sooner rather than later – but Love Island host Maya wanted to wait until having babies.

They’re not the only celebrity couple to split after the female star decided she wasn’t quite ready to settle down yet, or ever, despite her partner reportedly being broody. 

Here, FEMAIL explores the famous women putting their career first – even if it means the end of the relationship… 

MAYA JAMA AND STORMZY 

Maya Jama and Stormzy split after disagreements over when to start a family, MailOnline revealed shortly after the pair revealed their decision to part ways. 

Love Island presenter Maya, 29, and the BRIT Award winner, 30, announced they had ‘recently decided to call it quits’ with a joint Instagram statement on Wednesday.

They confirmed this breakup is ‘final’ after previously going their separate ways following a five year relationship in 2019 and reconnecting last August.

Sources told MailOnline the couple conflicted over when to settle down, with Stormzy keen to have children sooner rather than later.

Maya, who’s at the top of her game as the face of luxury fashion brand Dolce & Gabbana, ambassador for Rimmel London, and is sought after by streaming giant Netflix, wanted to wait until having babies.

A source close to the couple revealed: ‘Maya and Stormzy are very much on different pages when it comes to their future.

Love Island presenter Maya, 29, and the BRIT Award winner, 30, announced they had ‘recently decided to call it quits’ with a joint Instagram statement (pictured) on Wednesday 

Maya Jama and Stormzy last pictured together at the British Grand Prix on July 5

‘Stormzy was keen to settle down and start a family whereas Maya is enjoying her career, she’s ambitious, and wants to prioritise achieving everything she possibly can.

‘She also loves travelling and partying, at just 29 she’s not ready for the next chapter just yet.’ 

In an interview with the BBC’s Louis Theroux, Stormzy discussed wanting a family in the future.

He said: ‘I believe God will bless me with a family. I always say I’ll just wait for God, innit. To present me with…my woman, my family.’ 

HARRY STYLES AND TAYLOR RUSSELL 

Harry Styles reportedly split up from long-term girlfriend, Taylor Russell, in May – just weeks after the ‘besotted’ pop icon was said to be ready to start a family with the Canadian actress

In May, Taylor appeared at the star-studded New York Met Gala without Harry, who notably remained on the other side of the Atlantic in London

Harry Styles reportedly split up from long-term girlfriend, Taylor Russell, in May – just weeks after the ‘besotted’ pop icon was said to be ready to start a family with the Canadian actress.

The pair, who started dating 14-months before, were last seen riding bikes together during an appearance in Tokyo, Japan, in April. 

Weeks later Taylor, 29, appeared at the star-studded New York Met Gala without Harry, 30, who remained on the other side of the Atlantic in London. 

Friends have since claimed the couple opted to end the relationship after spending time together in the far east. 

A source told The Sun: ‘Harry and Taylor have ended their relationship. They went through a rough patch after their trip to Japan and are taking some time apart.

‘He’s been in America and she’s been in London. They made a lovely couple and it was obvious Taylor made Harry happy. Things have become strained recently though and they’ve taken some time out.’ 

The reported split came after a ‘besotted’ Harry was said to be ready to start a family with the Canadian actress. 

Speaking in March, a source told MailOnline: ‘Harry feels as if he has lived ten lifetimes already, but one thing is certain – his 30s will be nothing like his 20s. 

‘He has experienced all the fame anyone could ever want. He is now ready for the next chapter.  He is in love with Taylor. He wants a family with her and this is the next phase of his life.’ 

It’s unclear if Taylor was as eager to start a family yet, with the actress filming Hope opposite Michael Fassbender in Korea soon, according to Vanity Fair.

Speaking about the future, she told the publication: ‘There’s some other things this year, which I can’t say yet…’

SOFIA VERGARA AND JOE MANGANIELLO 

Sofia Vergara split from Joe Manganiello (pictured in 2023) last year and they finalized their divorce this year – after she admitted that their break up was due, at least in part, to the fact that he wanted children, while she did not

In a candid interview with People, the Modern Family actress, 52, shared her true thoughts on motherhood, explaining that during her seven-year marriage to the Magic Mike star (pictured together in 2020), 47, it never felt like the right time for them to have a child 

Sofia Vergara split from Joe Manganiello last year and they finalized their divorce this year – after she admitted that their break up was due, at least in part, to the fact that he wanted children, while she did not.

In a candid interview with People, the Modern Family actress, 52, shared her true thoughts on motherhood, explaining that during her seven-year marriage to the Magic Mike star, 47, it never felt like the right time for them to have a child.

‘There’s things in life that might sound like good ideas, but they’re not,’ she explained in the digital issue of the publication. 

‘I was a mother already,’ she said, referring to her son Manolo Gonzalez Vergara, 32, who she shares with first husband Joe Gonzalez.

‘I know what it means to be a good mother or to try to be the best mother that you can, and that takes a lot of sacrifices, takes a lot of energy,’ she shared, before explaining that she didn’t believe she was capable of doing that again at a certain point in her life.

‘I totally respect where anyone wants to be a mom after 50. I didn’t think because of my career, the way I live my life, the way my marriage was, that it was fair to bring a kid to this world, and I’m not going to be able to give 100 per cent.’

However, Joe has denied Sofia’s claim that his desire to have children played a factor in their decision to end their seven-year marriage.

One year after the couple announced their split in a joint statement, the True Blood star broke his silence over what led to them to them divorcing in a candid new interview with Men’s Journal. 

‘There’s been a lot said in the press about me wanting a family. That’s simply not true,’ he told the publication. ‘We did try to have a family for the first year and a half.’

The Magic Mike actor also revealed that they ‘had a huge conversation right out of the gate during the first month’ they dated, in which he claims to have told her: ‘If you’re done with kids, then I understand. Just tell me, and I’ll know what this is, and that’s OK. But that wasn’t the case with her.’

‘I swore to her that I would never leave if it didn’t work out. And I didn’t,’ Joe, who announced his divorce last July, insisted.

While he does hope to start a family someday, the performer set the record straight that disagreeing over children ‘wasn’t inevitably why everything ended.’

‘It’s because two people grew apart, and sometimes that happens,’ he explained. 

He went on to express frustration over his ex wife’s previous remarks that their ‘marriage broke up’ because her husband ‘was younger’ and ‘wanted to have kids.’ 

‘To be painted as if I had some sort of midlife crisis, and after nine years, turned to somebody and gave them an ultimatum of, “Do this potentially unhealthy thing to your body, or else I’m gone?” That’s never who I was,’ he stated. 

In January 2024, Sofia doubled down on her claims and told the Spanish publication El País that she and and her former husband called it quits because he wanted kids and she did not.

‘I didn’t want to be an old mom,’ she said. ‘I feel it’s not fair to the baby. I respect whoever does it, but that’s not for me anymore.’ 

She continued: ‘I had a son at 19, who is now 32, and I’m ready to be a grandmother, not a mother. So, if love comes along, he has to come with [his own] children.’

JAMES NORTON AND IMOGEN POOTS 

Imogen Poots and her ex fiancé James Norton decided to end their six-year relationship before Christmas after ‘growing apart’. Pictured in 2018

The ‘free-spirited’ actress, 35, previously spoke about how she ‘wasn’t ready to slow down’ as she wanted to travel the world, while James, 39, has been open with his hopes of wanting a family (pictured in NYC in 2021) 

Imogen Poots and her ex fiancé James Norton decided to end their six-year relationship before Christmas after ‘growing apart’. 

The ‘free-spirited’ actress, 35, previously spoke about how she ‘wasn’t ready to slow down’ as she wanted to travel the world, while James, 39, has been open with his hopes of wanting a family. He said in 2021 ‘my broody barometer is kicking off’. 

Imogen split her time between New York and London, but said: ‘I have never known anything to fall apart due to distance.’

She told The Evening Standard back in 2020: ‘It’s all I’ve ever known. I find work to be my happy place, in a way. Because it’s all I’ve ever known: packing up a bag and moving on.

‘That restlessness that’s inherent in you is very addictive. And I suppose now I’m supposed to slow down and set up a farm or something. But I’m not ready to do that. I want to keep exploring the world.’ 

James previously said his 2020 film, Nowhere Special, in which he played the dying father of a three-year-old boy, kicked off his ‘broody barometer’ and he was keen to become a dad.

He told The Guardian in 2021: ‘I’m mid-30s, I’ve always wanted a family, my sister has kids, my broody barometer is kicking off anyway.’

In an interview last year to promote the Happy Valley finale, James said of his busy acting life: ‘It comes as a cost because you don’t see each other a lot, but we are willing to pay that for the benefit of having someone in your life close to you who gets it, who is forgiving, who will give up their Sunday to do an annoying self-tape (audition).’

‘James and Imogen have extremely busy work lives and it has made it difficult for them to see each other,’ a source told The Sun.

‘They grew apart and split up last year. It hasn’t been easy for either of them but they are keeping their heads down and getting on with things.’

The couple’s romance began in December 2017 a few months after James split from Irish singer and actress Jessie Buckley, 34 – who he was with for two years. 

They got together after meeting during a run of the play Belleville at the Donmar Warehouse in 2017.  

In 2020, Imogen – who starred in The Father with Anthony Hopkins – moved into James’s London pad, before setting up home together.  They got engaged in February 2022 after five years of dating. 

MILEY CYRUS AND LIAM HEMSWORTH

Miley Cyrus, 31, married Liam Hemsworth, 34, in December 2018 before splitting eight months later in August 2019. Pictured in June 2019

Shortly after they announced their separation to ‘focus on themselves and their careers’, reports suggested it hadn’t always been smooth-sailing for the couple (pictured in 2019), who reportedly called it quits in July 2018 over an argument over baby plans 

Miley Cyrus, 31, married Liam Hemsworth, 34, in December 2018 before splitting eight months later in August 2019. The pair first met on the set of their film The Last Song in 2008.

Shortly after they announced their separation to ‘focus on themselves and their careers’, reports suggested it hadn’t always been smooth-sailing for the couple, who reportedly called it quits in July 2018 over an argument over baby plans.

A source told OK! Australia at the time, that while Liam, then 29, was eager to settle down and become a father, Miley, then 26, wasn’t ready. 

‘He wants kids and doesn’t want to keep putting it off but it’s not quite the timeline Miley had in mind… he is left heartbroken,’ the source said at the time.

‘Miley put off plans for the wedding and Liam was growing tired of it… They haven’t been getting along in recent months.’   

The insider added: ‘[She] didn’t really want to get married. It’s something that everyone else seemed to get but Liam. [His] family had been begging him to see the light for a long time, but he had faith in Miley. Now he feels like an idiot.’   

At the time, the couple denied split rumours, with Liam posting a video to Instagram of the pair driving along in a car together before he scared her with a funny prank.

Miley echoed the source in August 2020, admitting that starting a family has never been a priority for her.

Talking to SiriusXM Hits 1’s The Morning Mash Up, Miley said: ‘I never really cared that much. I am sure that my fans are going to pull up me at 12 saying “oh I want to have kids'” but like I don’t, as a 27 year old woman that would have a little bit more of a realistic idea of what they want. That has never been kind of my priority.’

The Wrecking Ball hitmaker added that she’d prefer to adopt when she thinks about the environmental issues and limited resources on earth. 

KIM KARDASHIAN AND PETE DAVIDSON

Kim Kardashian, 43, dated former SNL star Pete Davidson, 30, from October 2021 until August 2022 

Kim co-parents four children – North, 11, Saint, eight, Chicago, six, and Psalm, five – with her third and latest ex-husband Kanye West, 47 

Kim Kardashian, 43, dated former SNL star Pete Davidson, 30, from October 2021 until August 2022.

Kim co-parents four children – North, 11, Saint, eight, Chicago, six, and Psalm, five – with her third and latest ex-husband Kanye West, 47. 

The reality TV star got together with Pete after she hosted an October 2021 episode of Saturday Night Live, where he was then a regular cast member.

Pete has been notorious for his ‘big d*** energy’ since 2018, when his then-fiancée Ariana Grande slyly tweeted about his ’10 inches.’

She has confessed that she was initially enticed by the chatter about his ‘BDE,’ but the relationship ultimately fizzled out.

But their relationship perhaps could’ve also ended because of Pete wanting children and Kim declaring she’s ‘done’.

‘[I’m] definitely a family guy. My favourite thing ever, which I have yet to achieve, is I want to have a kid. That’s, like, my dream. Yeah and so it’s, like, super corny,’ the comedian told Kevin Hart in a Hart to Heart teaser.

‘It would be so fun dress up a little dude, like, or you know, like, you saw it’s just, like, I’m so excited for, like, that chapter. 

‘So, like, that’s kind of what I’m just preparing for now, is trying to be, like, as good of a dude and develop and get better so when that happens, it’s just easier.’

However in 2021, during an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Kim said she was ‘done’ having children. 

‘Yes, yes, I think so. I mean, I think, yeah. I’m done, yeah. Yeah, I have a lot of kids. I’m done,’ she said.