This Valentine’s Day, DIVA caught up with this couple to learn more about their relationship
BY ELLA GAUCI, IMAGE CREDIT: PULSE AGENCY, MILLIE DEE @_MILLIEDEE (CREATIVE DIRECTION & STYLING), @DOLLWORX (PHOTOGRAPHY), JAIDA BENNETT @MAKEUPBYJAIDA_ (MAKEUP), GEORGIA KEDIE @GEORGIAKEDIEHAIR @THERAEAGENCY (HAIR), LEO PROTHMAN @LEOPROTHMANN (DESIGNER)
On a football pitch in Skem, just a few miles out from Liverpool, an invisible string was being woven between Leah Marie Tyrer and Maz Pacheco. The pair were both playing at Skem Athletic AFC, but at the time neither really knew each other due to the eight-year age gap between them. Little did they know that an epic love story was waiting for them.
It’s likely that you’re already pretty familiar with Leah and Maz. Leah won over audiences’ hearts during her time on Married At First Sight UK (MAFSUK), in which she didn’t find love but did learn a lot about “patience”. And Everton defender Maz has been making waves on the pitch since 2015.
While Leah didn’t end up finding the wife of her dreams on MAFSUK, she was inundated with DMs after leaving the show. One of those messages was from Maz, who was keen to catch up after all those years since Skem. Leah, who was focusing on herself and certainly not looking for love, agreed.
The pair chatted about meeting in Liverpool for a coffee. Maz told a tiny white lie that she was nearby and could swing by whenever. In reality? Maz was in the city centre of Manchester, hurriedly walking round Selfridges to find a new perfume just in case she bumped into Leah. “When she said she was free, I bombed it down the M6!” Maz laughs.
Both Leah and Maz are loved up in front of me on our Zoom call, organised by Pulse Agency, and it’s evident from the start that these two are not only madly in love but also best friends. That first coffee catch up soon turned into a whole day together. “She was a breath of fresh air,” Leah says. “She puts me in my feminine energy.”
After meeting, it was clear that the connection they had between them was something special. But as MAFSUK hadn’t aired yet, the pair had to keep their relationship under wraps. There was something special about this time together in private, and Leah recounts a trip they went on to meet her family in Cyprus. “That’s when I was like: she’s the one.”
During the course of their relationship, Leah was diagnosed with ADHD and autism. While the initial diagnosis was a shock, Leah hopes that other women will be empowered by her candidness about it. “I don’t think of it as negative anymore,” she explains. “There must be so many women who struggle in their lives in high-pressure jobs or as mums and don’t understand why they struggle.”
In their relationship, Leah’s diagnosis has only brought them closer in understanding each other. For Maz, it’s been useful to do her own research into how to support Leah as best she can as a partner. “Patience is important,” Maz says. “I don’t have [the same processes as Leah], but I’d want time if that was me. It’s about putting yourself in the other person’s shoes.”
After keeping their relationship private, Leah and Maz are now ready to show their love to the world. Naturally, Everton’s fans have been ecstatic to hear the news. Leah tells me that the fans even sing to her at the matches. “Women’s football is quite accessible compared to the men,” Maz adds. “It’s a community. It’s togetherness. Women’s football is a movement. We go down the right path and believe in the right things.”
What do Leah and Maz hope people can take away from their love story? For Leah, it’s important that people look beyond social media when learning about relationships. “You don’t have to blast everything over social media to show you’re in love,” she says. “Stay true to yourself.”
She also hopes that people see how age gap relationships can work. While there are eight years between her and Maz, she says that she has never seen the age difference between them. “When I spoke to her [after MAFSUK] she had real depth, a lot of maturity in the way she spoke and she was together. She was calm. There is an age gap but we don’t see that.”
And for Maz? “Patience. You need patience in a relationship to make things work.”
You can follow Leah at @lmt________ and Maz at @maz_pacheco.
This interview was set up by Pulse Agency.
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