A look at Jasmine from Love Island’s ‘isolated’ upbringing in Dubai with single mum

Jasmine is without a doubt this year’s most popular Love Island girlie, so here’s a deep dive into the influencer’s background and upbringing.

The vibey Islanders is now based in London and has her own fashion brand with her sister, but was actually raised in Dubai and has a mixed heritage including Indian, Danish, American and Iranian. Her mum, Husna, told Cosmopolitan Middle East she moved from the UK to Dubai in 1990 to become cabin crew for Emirates.

“Dubai was so different in the 90s,” she said. “When I moved there, only a couple of hotels existed, no skyscrapers. Sheikh Zayed Road was a dual carriageway with dirt roads when you came off onto Jumeirah Beach. There were only three small malls – Bur Juman, Jumeirah Plaza, Al Ghurair Centre – no comparison to the malls in Dubai now.”

Jasmine was born in Sharjah on 26th September, 1998, the emirate that neighbours Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and is known for its traditional atmosphere. They then moved to Al Wasl, Dubai, where Jasmine and her younger sister Bella were brought up. Their parents separated when the girls were young and Husna raised them as a single mother.

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A post shared by Jasmine Gaziza Müller (@jasminegmuller)

Husna said “the language and culture are very prominent” in that area and both girls studied Arabic and did Islamic studies at school. They usually spent the summers in London, splitting their time between the UAE and UK, and did annual skiing trips with their Danish family until they were teenagers.

Jasmine’s mum said “life hasn’t been the easiest” and it was hard balancing work and being a mum. Bella and Jasmine also had to navigate their relationship with a step-mother, a half-sister and their dad, on top of being in Dubai. “We all had to be strong – to float above the water, and then swim.”

Bella told Cosmopolitan that growing up in Dubai showed them the “finer things in life,” but they’ve also seen “how quickly that can be lost or taken away”.

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“It’s not that we’re used to just living this bougie lifestyle, it’s learning how hard you have to work to get there, and how important it is to protect and cherish what you have. Having high standards is just Jasmine protecting everything she’s worked for and everything she deserves.”

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A post shared by Jasmine Gaziza Müller (@jasminegmuller)

She said Jasmine has always been “strong-minded” and had “amazing willpower,” which comes from their mum. “Seeing how resilient she was as a single parent raising two girls. She’s always taught us to have respect for ourselves, and to back ourselves even if no one else does.”

Jasmine’s closest friend since they were 10, Mouna, said growing up in Dubai was “really wholesome” at times but they also felt “isolated” from the rest of the world. She said Jasmine was never the “loudest or craziest girl in the room” but had this “massive, natural pull” and they were best friends from the day they met.

Recalling their upbringing, she said: “It’s a tiny place with so many people from all over the world. We were sheltered in so many levels – good and bad (IYKYK) – but there was an overall feeling of safety that gave us a lot of freedom as kids. The communities were small, and everyone sort of knew each other. In a way, it felt like being raised in a little village.”

“Dubai is funny, because at the time it was pretty isolated from the world in a lot of ways,” she says. “We were at a crossroads – in this very modern, developing place, but we got a lot of the Western trends months, if not years, later. I think that allowed us as kids to create a pretty authentic sense of being and style, and Jasmine was always a great example of that.”

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Featured image credit: Jasmine Müller/Instagram