When Maeva D’Asconio first joined Made in Chelsea in 2019, she quickly asserted herself as west London’s favourite fiery French woman. Originally appearing on the show as the ex-girlfriend of Miles Nazaire, self-proclaimed ‘strong character’ Maeva is now happily settled with husband James Taylor and their son Beau, who turns two in November.
In her five years on the show, Maeva has found herself at the centre of a fair number of Made in Chelsea’s major dramas. But speaking to Grazia, Maeva says that this often stems from being different to the rest of the cast. ‘I'm in this group of people, I'm the only one French, and sometimes people don't really get my mentality or the way I see things, the way I speak, how direct I can be,’ she says. 'I can come across quite rude sometimes, but at the same time, I'm just very direct, because I'm very honest with things, and it is what it is.’
Maeva says that she’s always been good at asserting her boundaries, but that the show ‘definitely helps to see things a bit more differently’. ‘You're kind of on your own, and you have to defend yourself about some silly situations sometimes. You have to stand up for yourself, because this environment can be really full of jealousy and criticism,’ she says.
Series 28 began in October, and years after their relationship, Maeva has been dragged back into drama involving her ex Miles. So far, two major plot points have revolved around James’s brother Jack befriending her Miles, and a TikTok Miles posted musing over how incredible their relationship was. When it comes to Jack, Maeva says that she’s ‘just trying to look after a young man who doesn't really know what he's doing in his life at the minute’. After all, she says, ‘you can be betrayed really quickly’ in the circles they move in.
Her feelings about the video, Maeva admits, are more complex. ‘I just feel that it's just at this point in my life, and in even Miles's life, we shouldn't even talk about anything like this?’ she says. ‘We've moved on so much from what happened between us, which was bloody almost 10 years ago.’
If it wasn’t for the show, Maeva says she and Miles likely wouldn’t even cross paths. ‘He’s a bloody idiot. He just is a different person, living in a different world,’ she says. ‘We never see each other, we always ignore each other completely, except when we're in the same storyline. It's [like], Why? I've got a child, I'm married. Why am I talking to you?'
Maeva says the video was less a case of her being personally offended (although she did find it disrespectful), but a matter of having James’s back when he found it uncomfortable. Being a unit, Maeva says, is integral to her marriage. ‘James and I, we tell everything to each other. We'd never hide anything from each other,’ she says. ‘We will be a team no matter what. I'll have his back. He'll have my back.’
This series shot around three months ago, and ‘I do move on quickly from things anyway. At that time, it was just a bit ridiculous, to be honest,’ she says. Does she like watching herself back on the show? ‘I used to. Not really anymore. I don't know if it's a physical thing. I don't like watching myself and seeing my facial expressions I do sometimes, and things like that. And then also things I can say, sometimes, I'm like, "Why did I say this?" I criticise myself a lot, to be completely honest.’
It’s intriguing to know what keeps Maeva on Made in Chelsea, but she says it’s ‘a part of [her] life’ at this point. ‘So I don't mind it, for some reasons,’ she says. ‘The show has made me grow, really gave me loads of opportunities. I do respect it, I respect the show.’ She might have issues with ‘people from the show' but 'I have my own life,' she says. 'I don't mind it. I'm happy in this for now. Obviously, I'm not going to do it forever, but now it works pretty well.’