Looks like Jennifer Lopez has found her perfect match in Alex Rodriguez.
Looks like Jennifer Lopez has found her perfect match in Alex Rodriguez.
The 49-year-old singer got engaged to the 43-year-old former baseball pro she announced on Saturday, sharing a photo of her massive new engagement ring on Instagram. The couple got engaged after dating for two years, though from the start, fans have been predicting the relationship to go the distance.
Lopez, of course, is no stranger to high profile romances and neither is Rodriguez. Lopez has been married three times -- her first husband was Ojani Noa, her second was dancer Cris Judd and her third was singer Marc Anthony. She was also in a serious relationship with Diddy in the '90s, and later, Ben Affleck, whom she was engaged to before splitting in 2004. As for Rodriguez, aside from his ex-wife Cynthia Scurtis, his past exes include Cameron Diaz, Kate Hudson and Madonna.
Still, from the start, Lopez has acknowledged her failed relationships and how things were different with Rodriguez.
In September 2017, Lopez opened up to HOLA! USA magazine and said her romance with Rodriguez was the first "good relationship" she's ever been in.
"I feel like I can say that for the first time -- I don't know -- maybe ever," she said bluntly. And not that I didn't have great relationships, full of love and adventure, but this is the first relationship I've been where I feel like we really make each other better. We complement each other, and there’s really pure, true love. Just wanting to support the other person and make them happy. So, there's a different selflessness in the love that's beautiful and different. And healthy!"
Lopez has talked about how she and Rodriguez both being in their 40s has been beneficial to the two finding one another at this point in their lives. In an interview with Vanity Fair in September 2017, both agreed that if they had struck up a romance when they were younger, it wouldn't have worked out.
"We had to grow and discover ourselves first," Lopez explained. " ... I understand him in a way that I don’t think anyone else could, and he understands me in a way that no one else could ever. In his 20s, he came into big success with the biggest baseball contract [at the time]. I had a No. 1 movie and a No. 1 album and made history. We both had ups and downs and challenges in our 30s, and by our 40s we’d both been through so much. And more importantly than anything, we had both done a lot of work on ourselves.”
"We have to take our time," Lopez echoed during her appearance on Good Morning America last June about their relationship's progression. "I've made plenty of mistakes in my past and ... we're mature now. We're grown ups and we're going to take our time and we're going to do things at our own pace. And our life right now is incredibly wonderful. Between our kids and our work we're truly blessed. We don't need anything more right now."
Last October, Lopez told InStyle that one of the things she most admired about Rodriguez was how he grew from past mistakes, and again noted that they both had "already done a lot of work" on themselves before they started dating.
"Everybody has flaws, and the people I want in my life are the people who recognize that and are willing to work on those flaws," Lopez said, addressing Rodriguez's infamous doping scandal in 2013 and 2014. “It’s super-important: someone who’s willing to look at themselves and say, ‘OK, I’m not great here’ or ‘I could do better there.'"
Lopez has also noted that she took some time out before giving it her all in her relationship with Rodriguez.
“For me, the relationship journey has been very up and down," she acknowledged to Harper's BAZAAR for their February issue. "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."
"There’s an evolution there that had to happen for me," she added. "I feel like I’m in a better place now.”
And although it's no secret that J.Lo loves love, she consciously didn't rush into marriage too quickly with Rodriguez.
"I do believe in marriage,” Lopez told Harper's BAZAAR last March. “I would love to grow old with somebody in a committed relationship -- but I’m not forcing anything right now."
"It’s good, it’s healthy; we communicate well," she said of their relationship. "We understand each other’s lives in a way that most other people couldn’t. We both entered the public eye in our early '20s and overachieved right from the start. And that affects every dynamic in your life, from your family to your work to your relationships. We have a similar makeup."
Clearly, Lopez can also count on Rodriguez to be her biggest cheerleader. From proving to be the perfect Instagram boyfriend -- adorably documenting Lopez's biggest moments on camera on multiple occasions -- to happily letting her shine on the red carpet, it's safe to say Lopez has never had such an openly supportive partner.
"It's crazy. We both are so happy about our lives right now and where we're at professionally, as well as personally," she told ET in February 2018. "You know. Just things seem to be flowing in a really beautiful way. We both have a lot of support for each other and a lot of love for each other."
Rodriguez admitted dating Lopez was a humbling" experience during his appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in June 2017.
"When I was with the Yankees, and we won the world championship, and you wear the pinstripes, you think you're pretty cool," he noted. "But then, you hang out with Jennifer, and they confuse me with the security guard all the time!"
"We were at the Met Ball, and the paparazzi were screaming at me, not even in English, 'Get the hell out of the way, get out of the way! We're trying to take a picture!'" Rodriguez recalled.
Last September, Lopez talked to ET about Rodriguez being there for the last show of her All I Have residency at Planet Hollywood’s Zappos Theater.
“Listen, to have a partner who's that supportive, who comes to that many shows -- we all know what it's like to be in show business. It's a grind,” she noted. “It's being away a lot and he really makes the effort, so do I, to be there for each other and it means a lot to me.”
Last December, Lopez was overcome with emotion when talking about how supportive Rodriguez has been of her.
"He’s come into my life and really contributed in such a way. He’s so supportive, he’s so loving,” she said during her appearance on The Tonight Show. "He’s one of these people, he’s like, ‘Shine, be the best.’ Some people try to dull you down, try to squish you down and he’s so not like that. And it’s just so refreshing. It’s just such a beautiful thing.”
Holding back tears, Lopez continued, "He’s just a very generous, loving spirit, soul.”
Lopez and Rodriguez also share healthy habits, challenging one another while working out and even going on strict no sugar, no carbs diets together. A source told ET last March that the two definitely have the same interests and goals.
"They complement each other well," the source said. "They are both driven business people with the same background and are passionate about their charitable efforts ... Their relationship keeps blooming. They just make each other better. They push each other to be better people, and that works for them."
"We are very much twins,” Rodriguez pointed out in their 2017 Vanity Fair interview. “We’re both Leos; we’re both from New York; we’re both Latino and about 20 other things."
And most importantly, Lopez and Rodriguez's children have seamlessly come together to form a happy blended family. Lopez has 11-year-old twins Emme and Max from her marriage to Anthony, while Rodriguez has 14-year-old Natasha and 10-year-old Ella from his marriage to Scurtis. Both Lopez and Rodriguez have shared photos of their kids happily hanging out.
"We just love spending time together," Rodriguez told ET in September 2017. "Our kids love each other, so it's a good thing."
Rodriguez has also talked about what an incredible role model Lopez has been to his young daughters.
“My girls adore Jennifer,” he said. “She's a great role model and they want to do exactly what Jennifer does. They want to sing, they want to dance, they want to produce, they want to direct. A lot of people don't know she's also a great athlete and great business person, and for me, I'm the luckiest father in the world to be able to expose my beautiful daughters to someone as brilliant as Jennifer.”
Lopez responded to Rodriguez's kind words a few months later, telling ET, "I'm glad that he sees me that way, that I would be a good role model to his girls. You know, I'm just trying to be a good mom to mine and the best I can be for all four of them."
Last July, Lopez gushed about how well her twins and Rodriguez's daughters get along.
"The four of them are amazingly special kids," she said when she dropped by New York City’s 103.5 KTU. "I mean, of course I'm going to say that 'cause I'm their mom, but they are and they're sweet and they're loving and they deal with us and our lifestyle in such a great way. And they love each other, they get along so good… That stuff can be tricky sometimes and I think a lot of people understand that, and I've had other relationships where it's been tricky, but with these four, it really works nicely.”
Clearly, it's a new beginning for Lopez and Rodriguez since finding one another in 2017. The superstar noted last month that Rodriguez made her feel young again.
"You make my world a more beautiful safe and stable place… in the midst of our ever-changing, ever-moving life… you make me feel like a teenager starting out all over again," Lopez wrote to celebrate their two-year anniversary. "Every time I think I have you pegged, you surprise me in the most wonderful ways reminding me how blessed I am to have found you now in this moment at this time.. our time.
In his own anniversary post, Rodriguez looked towards their future.
"Macha 13, I can’t believe it’s been two years," Rodriguez wrote to Lopez. "Only 730 days, which have flown by, but it feels like we have been together forever. We are meant to be, and how much you mean to me cannot be put into words."
"From baseball games, to traveling across the world to shows in Vegas. We have done it all together and every moment with you is cherished," he continued. "Where this road will take us next is unknown but there is no one else I would rather have by my side. The journey is just beginning and I am excited for what’s ahead."
ET spoke with the couple at the GRAMMYs last month, where Lopez gushed, "We have so much fun together that it feels like we’re starting life all over again, so I love that."
For more on the happy couple, watch the video below:
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