Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez announced Thursday they are calling it quits.
"We have realized we are better as friends and look forward to remaining so," the couple said in a joint statement to Today. "We will continue to work together and support each other on our shared businesses and projects.
"We wish the best for each other and one another's children. Out of respect for them, the only other comment we have is to say is thank you to everyone who has sent kind words and support."
The news comes a month after the couple denied reports that they had split up.
"All the reports are inaccurate," read a joint statement at the time. "We are working through some things."
Confronted by a paparazzo outside his Miami gym, Rodriguez denied he was suddenly single. He then flew to Dominican Republic, where Lopez was filming Shotgun Wedding, and the couple had several PDAs for the cameras.
Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez, pictured in 2020. Ari Perilstein / Getty Images
Lopez and Rodriguez announced their engagement two years ago after two years of dating. Both shared the same photo on Instagram of the diamond engagement ring on Lopez’s hand. “She said yes,” Rodriguez captioned his pic while Lopez displayed only heart emojis.
The two were seen together at the Biden-Harris inauguration in January and again last month for Super Bowl weekend in Tampa. In February, A-Rod visited his fiancée in Dominican Republic.
In the March issue of Allure, Lopez revealed that she and A-Rod had attended therapy during the pandemic. “It has been actually really good. We got to work on ourselves. We did therapy," she explained. "It was really helpful for us in our relationship."
It would have been the fourth marriage for Lopez and the second for Rodriguez. In June 2019, Lopez said she wanted to get married in a church, which she has never done.
“I was very young the first two times I tried to get married. I’m saying tried to," she joked in a Making The It’s My Party Tour: Showtime! video on YouTube.
She added: “It seems like in this life, like you’re always surrounded by people, you’re never lonely. But it’s very lonely. And so you always want somebody with you. Somebody. And so I felt like if I got married, I felt like I would always have somebody. But that’s not how life works. That’s not how it goes.
“It’s a bad reason to get married! Not the right one. The wrong one! The right one is when you find somebody who really makes you better.”
In an interview with Elle published in January, Lopez said the couple postponed the wedding twice. “We had planned what we really, really wanted to do, [but] I don't know if we'll be able to re-create that,” she said. "We canceled it, and since then we haven't really talked about it. There's no rush. We want to do it right when we can do it.”
Last May, Lopez admitted she was “a little heartbroken” about having to put the nuptials on hold due to the pandemic. “There’s no planning right now,” the singer told Today from the home in Coral Gables, Florida where she was quarantining with her fiancé and their children. “You just have to kind of wait to see how this all plays out.”
Lopez said “it’s a little disappointing” to be in limbo. “I’m a little heartbroken because we did have some great plans but I’m also like, you know what, God has a bigger plan so we just have to wait and see."
Lopez ended her marriage to Ojani Noa in 1998 after 11 months and her nine-month marriage to dancer Cris Judd ended in 2002. Her engagement to actor Ben Affleck ended in 2003. Lopez married singer Marc Anthony in June 2004 and the couple welcomed twins Max and Emme in 2008 but announced their split three years later.
Rodriguez married Cynthia Scurtis in 2002 and the couple had daughters Natasha and Ella. Scurtis filed for divorce in 2008 alleging that Rodriguez cheated.