A juicy look at all of Jennifer Lopez’s previous messy divorces and called off engagements

They’ve all got a lot of bitter things to say about her

3 months ago

Amid her split from Ben Affleck, it turns out Jennifer Lopez has already gone through three previous divorces. She’s also called off an engagement twice, one of which was to Ben Affleck. Ouch.

Most of her divorces have seemingly ended in some pretty messy drama, so let’s have a look at the previous marriages and engagements Jennifer Lopez has gone through.

Ojani Noa: 1997 – 1998

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Jennifer’s first husband was Ojani Noa, who she met after being served by him at a restaurant in Miami, where he was a waiter at the time. However, their marriage was not to last as they were only together for 11 months before divorcing at the start of 1998.

Whilst they initially appeared to stay amicable, with Jennifer hiring Ojani to help manage her Cuban restaurant, things quickly went sour between the pair. Just six months into their partnership, Jennifer ended up firing her former husband, resulting in him suing her for breach of contract.

Following court proceedings, he was forbidden by a permanent injunction from “criticizing, denigrating, casting in a negative light or otherwise disparaging” Jennifer. She sued him in 2006 when he pitched a book that would tell all about their marriage, and three years later sent him a cease and desist letter to stop production of his mockumentary about their relationship.

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It seems he’s still feeling pretty bitter, as after Ben and Jennifer got married in 2022 he savagely shared his thoughts. He admitted: “I wish her and Ben the best, but I’m not convinced it will last. Jen loves being in love but she’s been engaged six times. Ben is husband number four. I was husband number one and she told me I was the love of her life. When we lay in bed on our wedding night, she said we would be together forever.

“I’m happy she has gone back to Ben but I have a feeling this won’t last. I think she’s someone who will be married seven or eight times. I can’t see her ever settling down with one person. She pushes herself to constantly go forward in her professional life, which is why she’s had a three-decade career, but she also moves on in her private life.”

Well, he certainly wasn’t wrong!

Cris Judd: 2001 – 2003

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Three years after her split from Ojani, Jennifer was back in a wedding dress getting married to dancer Cris Judd, who she’d met on the set of her music video. But sadly, they also didn’t manage to make it to the one year mark and they filed for divorce just nine months later.

Following their divorce, Jennifer discussed why the relationship failed, explaining: “Coming out of a torrid relationship, I meet this sweet person who’s so refreshing. But marriage is not just about love. I thought I had learned that in my first marriage, I loved Cris, still love him, he’s one of the best people. This wasn’t an easy thing to walk away from, but we didn’t have what it takes to make a marriage work.”

Cris also emotionally opened up about their relationship in an interview with Us Weekly in 2014. He revealed: “You know it’s very tough. Your privacy is breached. You’re no longer a normal person. [Our wedding] was a circus. I think several people got arrested trying to climb up a mountain… trying to sneak in. We actually rented the airspace.”

Ben Affleck: 2002 – 2004

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Yep, this isn’t Ben and Jennifer’s first rodeo after the pair had a very tumultuous engagement back in 2002. The pair met in 2001 during filming for Gigli, and were engaged less than one year later. Tragedy struck when, just months before they were set to walk down the aisle, they decided to call off the engagement.

At the time they explained it was due to “excessive media attention” and months later they ended their relationship completely. Who would have thought 20 years later they’d be getting divorced?

Marc Anthony: 2004 – 2014

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Just five months after ending her engagement to Ben Affleck, Jennifer had married singer Marc Anthony. That has to be some kind of record. Four years after their wedding the two had twins together but decided to divorce three years later in 2011.

Years after her split, Jennifer reflected on her third marriage in an interview with W Magazine. She said: “It wasn’t the dream that I had hoped for, and it would have been easier to fan the flames of resentment, disappointment and anger. But Marc is the father of my children, and that’s never going away. So I have to work to make things right. And that is, by far, the hardest work I do. I hung in there for seven years. I knew very quickly that it wasn’t the right thing.”

But unlike some of her other divorces, it seems Jennifer Lopez and her former husband remained close friends, and they even performed together at the 2016 Latin Grammy Awards.

Marc added in an interview at the time: “We’ve always been [in a good place] from day one, you know. We met working – 20 something years ago we met, working. She’s my goombah – that’s my girl – for life. If you want to get along with a woman, just get divorced.” Pretty brutal words.

Alex Rodriguez: 2017 – 2021

Via YouTube

Jennifer started dating Alex, a New York Yankees baseball player, in 2017 and two years later they were engaged. Their engagement lasted two years before they ultimately decided to call the whole thing off in 2021.

They released a joint statement at the time, saying: “We have realized we are better as friends and look forward to remaining so. 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.”

Ben Affleck: 2021 – 2024

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After waiting in the shadows for 20 years, just like the Batman himself, Ben and Jennifer rekindled their relationship in 2021, and by April 2022 they were engaged. Determined not to let her call off the engagement again, the pair were married just a few months after a ceremony in a Las Vegas chapel.

At the time Jennifer spoke about how reconnecting with Ben had inspired her latest music album, explaining: “When he came back into my life, again the same thing happened where I felt so inspired and so overtaken with emotion that it was just pouring out of me. When I feel good, I write music. And I wrote music and I got in the studio in I think May, and by August when we got married, it was done.”

You know you are proper old when you’ve experienced the highs and lows of both Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck relationships in real time x pic.twitter.com/c5WxmWsATq

— Sharon Bitchell-Watts 💙🐝🇵🇸 (@comagirlx) August 21, 2024

But just two years after getting married the pair have ended up divorcing, and according to some insider sources, we have a better idea of what was the last straw that caused Jennifer to divorce Ben. A source told PEOPLE: “She’s very disappointed and sad, but Ben hasn’t given her any signs that he wants to continue their marriage. He hasn’t shown any commitment and interest in making their marriage work. It’s gotten to the point that she just needs to look out for herself.”

It seems the pair decided to call it quits on their relationship on April 26, according to divorce papers that were filed by Jennifer and obtained by Us Weekly. To add an extra layer of salt to the wound, that was their two year wedding anniversary. Yikes.

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