Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez are officially going their separate ways.
The performing sensation and the former baseball slugger, who have been a couple since 2017, have called off their two-year engagement and will focus on remaining friends.
The two revealed the news in an exclusive joint statement to TODAY.
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 to say is thank you to everyone who has sent kind words and support.
Reports first circulated in March that they had called off their engagement, but multiple sources told TODAY at the time that the two “never officially broke up” and were still together.
“They hit a rough patch that made them think about what they should do,” the sources added, noting that it was tough for the couple to see each other amid COVID-19 restrictions while Lopez, 51, was working in the Dominican Republic and Rodriguez, 45, was in Miami.
“All the reports are inaccurate. We are working through some things,” Lopez and Rodriguez also told TODAY in a joint statement in March.
However, breakup rumors swirled again earlier this week when Lopez shared a series of selfies from the set of her new movie, “Shotgun Wedding,” and her engagement ring was missing from the photos.
Lopez and Rodriguez announced their engagement in March 2019 after two years of dating. Rodriguez proposed in the Bahamas.
Lopez was previously married to Ojani Noa (1997–1998), Cris Judd (2001–2003) and Marc Anthony (2004–2014), the latter with whom she shares 13-year-old twins, Max and Emme.
In 2018, she opened up about her special bond with Rodriguez in an interview with Willie Geist on Sunday TODAY.
“He’s brought something to my life that I’ve never had before, which is an unconditional support and love, kind of a matching of twin souls,” she said. “That’s a different thing for me — now I know what it’s like to be with me. He works as much as I do, he’s kind of as driven as I am.”
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Rodriguez is dad to daughters Natasha, 16, and Ella, 12, with ex-wife Cynthia Scurtis, and he and Lopez have shared some of their joyful moments as a blended family on social media.
“Kids are so beautiful and open to love and new friends,” Lopez told People in 2018.
“I was so loving to his kids and he was so loving and accepting of mine, and they embraced each other right away,” she added.
Last year, Lopez visited TODAY and told Hoda Kotb that their wedding plans were on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“I’m a little heartbroken because we did have some great plans,” she said. “I’m also like, ‘You know what? God has a bigger plan.’”
This story was originally published on TODAY.com.
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