Maisie Adam's unique hair reason, health diagnosis and wedding hours before Soccer Aid
Maisie Adam's unique hair reason, health diagnosis and wedding hours before Soccer Aid
Soccer Aid 2025 returns to our screens on Sunday night and so to does comedian Maisie Adam
Maisie Adam is back at Soccer Aid this year
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Soccer Aid is back for its 2025 edition and it boasts yet another star-studded line-up of footballers and celebrities.
Old Trafford is the venue as a World XI face off against an England XI in an event that has now raised millions for charity over the past nearly 20 years.
Footballing legend Wayne Rooney will take on the role of player-manager for this year's game, while boxing superstar Tyson Fury will be his assistant in the technical area.
Peter Schmeichel and Robbie Keane will be in the opposition dugout, with the match kicking off at 7.30pm live on ITV1.
Soccer Aid's appeal is across the sporting and showbiz spectrum, with stars of the small and big screen mixing it up with sportsmen and women who have appeared in World Cup finals.
Returning this year is Soccer Aid regular Maise Adam, the comedian with a big following.
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"Incredible first day at @socceraid 2025," she wrote this week online.
The podcast host is instantly recognisable thanks to her unique hair cuts. From mullet-style chops to a bleached blonde look, Adam always sports an eye-catching 'do.
Speaking to ITV's CelebAbility about the fringe look she had a few years ago, she explained: "It is a unique style. I did it in lockdown. I'd always wanted to give it a go but I was never brave enough to do it, so I was like 'come on, do it, be brave. Do it, you'll look just like someone from This is England.'
"And then I did it and I thought 'Oh, I don't know if this is This is England. I think it might be back-to-front [Tiger King star] Joe Exotic'."
She added to the Evening Standard in 2021: "People sometimes think that I hate my hair, because I've made jokes about it. But I love it.
"If you don't make the jokes, someone else will. I think it's a personality thing. I don't want to be a Plain Jane. My mum was a punk – still is – so I take after her in that respect."
Adam was diagnosed with epilepsy aged 14 and she has made a TV show called 'Vague' about growing up with the condition.
She said: "I'm absolutely chuffed to bits that my show has been recorded for NextUp. This was my debut show and I worked so hard on it. I'm very proud of it, but most importantly, I loved performing it.
"I feel that every step of my epilepsy journey has comedic value."
She added to Epilepsy Scotland: 'You only get that one image of epilepsy through the media, it is one specific type, which is nowhere near representative of epilepsy.
'Only 3% are photosensitive so I was confused. I thought they had got it wrong and I couldn't be epileptic. That sounds like a big scary word. At that time, I had childhood absence seizures called petite mal at the time. I just remember being very confused. As it went on, I started to realise that this is what I have got.
'They thought it would just be for my teenage years. I went through the trial of being taken off medication. At 16 and 17 it kept happening, so it was something I had to learn on the job. Till I was about 18 or 19, when it was properly diagnosed as juvenile myoclonic epilepsy, I didn't feel I had a proper name for it.
'It was just something I had to deal with in the hope it would disappear one day because it felt so temporary throughout puberty, I didn't really bother accepting it. I think that is why I have had this delayed acceptance and I am only talking about it now.'
Away from the comedy scene, the Leeds United fan is married to husband Michael Dobinson. The tied the knot just hours before the 2023 edition of the football match.
Reflecting on the jam-packed weekend, Maisie said: 'It was the day after my wedding, so I was hungover.
'For Soccer Aid, you go to the training camp on Thursday, Friday and Saturday - and I had to leave on Saturday to go get married!
'We got married in Brighton and then the next day, at 10 O'clock in the morning, a car comes to take you to Old Trafford.
'It was just such a surreal 48 hours because I got married and then was finding myself on a bus sat next to Nani (the Portuguese footballer) and across from Roberto Carlos and then on the other side there was Lee Mack.
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'I just thought, 'How have I ended up here?' If you'd have told me as a little kid, 'You'll be doing your dream job and the day after your wedding, you'll be sat next to one of your comedy heroes and two footballing legends ready to go and play at Old Trafford…'
'It was really one of those strange sort experiences where you watch yourself from above.'
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