Jennifer Lopez turns 51: Ben Affleck to Marc Anthony, all her heartbreaks before she sealed the deal with A-Rod
Jennifer Lopez aka JLo is a special kind of diva, a woman from the Bronx whom Beyonce would call "a female version of a hustler". Known as one of the hardest working women in show business, this talented singer, dancer, actress, producer, fashion designer and entrepreneur turns 51 on July 24. She's been blessed with intelligence, resilience, beauty, and vitality and has proudly stood up for her Puerto Rican heritage and numerous sociopolitical causes that are intertwined with the fabric of America.
Before her Superbowl halftime show with Shakira this year, Jennifer stated, "I think it’s important in this day and age for two Latin women to be standing on that stage, when Latinos are being treated a certain way in this country, or looked at a certain way — to show that we have a really specific and beautiful culture and worth and value, and we bring something to this country that’s necessary."
Despite her remarkable and well-documented success story through the years, there remained one major stumbling block for Jenny from the Block — her love life. Even though she's written dozens of songs about love, passion and romance, it seemed Jennifer, one of the most beautiful women on the planet, could never find the man of her dreams. After a string of high-profile relationships, including three marriages that fizzled out, she finally found the perfect match in former baseball star Alex Rodriguez, who she started dating in 2017.
The happy couple look set to marry once the coronavirus pandemic simmers down, since A-Rod has already proposed and she accepted. But before that happy day rolls around, let's take a quick recap of her storied love life, including the many men whom most people still have no idea JLo had a dalliance with.
One of Jennifer's first boyfriends was her high school sweetheart, David Cruz. The couple started dating in 1984 when Jennifer was still 15 and their relationship lasted a full decade. Although they broke up in 1994 while JLo's career was still on the rise, she later admitted her teenage beau still "probably knows me better than anyone else".
Following this, Jennifer briefly dated the actor Wesley Snipes in 1995, after they met on the set of the film 'Money Train', which they both starred in. Snipes reportedly made the first move and began flirting with her, and since Jennifer was now newly single, she decided to reciprocate and the pair started getting serious about each other. However, like most Hollywood romances, their tryst didn't last very long.
JLo then fell in love with a dashing young waiter from Cuba named Ojani Noa in 1997. After dating for a while, the lovestruck couple promptly got married, right before she was famously chosen to play the beloved Tejano star, Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, in the movie 'Selena'. That breakthrough role put Jennifer on the map, but while her film career was now skyrocketing, her love life was fizzling out. Lopez and Noa ended their relationship in 1998 after barely a year together, and she had to take legal action against her divorced husband a decade later to prevent him from writing a tell-all book about her. That relationship ended on a sour note, and sadly, more bad fortune was to come JLo's way as she continued her search for love.
In 1999, JLo famously started dated Sean 'Diddy' Combs, who was known as Puff Daddy at the time. The powerful hip-hop mogul and producer was smitten after he got to work with Jennifer on her album, 'On the 6' and the pair soon became one of the entertainment industry's most well-known couples. However, due to Diddy's inability to stay faithful to her, JLo eventually called it quits in 2001. He was a self-confessed bad boy for life, after all. However, the couple still remain friends to this day, and no doubt share many treasured memories together.
Lopez was then smitten by her next sweetheart, Cris Judd, in 2001 after she met the backup dancer on the set of her music video for 'Love Don't Cost A Thing'. The couple said their marriage vows to each other that same year, but then split in 2002 as their relationship buckled under the glare of the celebrity spotlight they were constantly under. Just like with Diddy, JLo did not hold any grudges against her former partner and admitted, "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."
Next came the highly publicized phenomenon known as Bennifer, aka Jennifer and Ben Affleck. The movie stars famously fell in love on the set of the movie 'Gigli' in late 2001, leading to thousands of paparazzi pics being taken of the two photogenic celebs in every conceivable location over the next few years. However, the (admittedly terrible) film that brought them together eventually proved to be the catalyst that drove them apart.
'Gigli' bombed at the box office and the ensuing media scrutiny proved to be the final straw for the couple, as they postponed their wedding plans and attempted to save their relationship. Sadly, they couldn't make it last and Jennifer was left heartbroken when they eventually split up in early 2004. Plenty of celebrity couples have been doomed by the tabloids since then — Bennifer was just the first of many high-profile casualties. Jennifer herself admitted that she had lost her bearings after her first real heartbreak. "I lost my sense of self, questioned if I belonged in this business, thought maybe I did suck at everything." She added, "And then my relationship self-destructed in front of the entire world."
That same year, Lopez began seriously dating Latin music star Marc Anthony and the lovebirds married in June 2004. By all accounts, they had a loving, stable relationship and even had two twins together, Max and Emme, who were born in 2008. However, Anthony eventually began to feel like the relationship wasn't working out and the couple split up in 2011 due to irreconcilable differences. The pair still share a good bond to this day after deciding to co-parent their children, but Lopez was particularly hit hard by her third divorce and began to feel like her love life was a series of failures.
Thankfully, she rebounded and began seeing other men and had an on-off relationship with her backup dancer Beau 'Casper' Smart over the next few years. However, their low-key trysts never blossomed into a serious relationship and they eventually split up in 2016. During this time, Jennifer was also romantically linked with a series of stars like Maksim Chmerkovskiy from 'Dancing With The Stars' in 2014, and even the Canadian rapper Drake in 2017, but nothing concrete ever materialized out of these dalliances either.
Finally, after an endless stream of dead-ends, Jennifer met her perfect match in the MLB star Alex Rogriguez. Apparently, A-Rod had always had a huge crush on the 'Love Don't Cost A Thing' singer, but had played his cards close to his chest.
As the famous story goes, the pair met up for dinner one fateful evening in 2017, although Rogriguez thought the meeting was merely a professional encounter. However, after Jennifer candidly admitted that she was single, he realized that they were on a potential date. Since he was too shy to confess his feelings in person, Alex went to the restroom, and on the way back, sent her a flirty text: "You look sexy af." That smooth line broke the ice and the duo has been like giggling teenagers ever since, clearly happily in love with each other. As a couple, they complement each other wonderfully well, with both partners encouraging and pushing each other into the second act of their careers. Jennifer later dubbed A-Rod her "twin soul" and was even charmed by the fact that Rodriguez was well-versed in the merengue, a traditional Dominican dance style. The couple is now known as J-Rod, and are also incredibly popular on Instagram as well.
Reflecting on her love life thus far, JLo admitted, "For me, the relationship journey has been very up and down. But it didn’t have to do with anybody else but me — it was about me figuring out me. Until you learn to love yourself, you can’t completely love (someone else) in a way that is pure and true. Once you do that, you can have relationships that are based on love and respect, that are supportive and nourishing," she revealed. "There’s an evolution there that had to happen for me. I feel like I’m in a better place now.” We're glad Jennifer has finally found the man she wants to be with for the rest of her life, and wish her many happy days of wedded bliss in the future.
