Jennifer Lopez & Alex Rodriguez Call Off Two-Year Long Engagement: We Have Realized We Are Better As Friends

Singer Jennifer Lopez and baseball star Alex Rodriguez have officially parted ways. The duo called off their two-year engagement in a joint statement saying, "We have realized we are better as friends".

Lopez and Rodriguez shared in a joint statement to NBC show TODAY. They said, "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." Notably, Lopez is the mom of twins Max and Emme, 13 with ex-husband singer Marc Anthony. Meanwhile, Rodriguez has two daughters, Ella, 12, and Natasha, 16 with ex-wife Cynthia Scurtis.

The news comes after rumours swirled last month that the couple had called it quits, but they had released a statement at the time saying that they were "working through some things." The duo had taken a vacation together as they tried to work things out. Multiple sources close to the couple had said, "They hit a rough patch that made them think about what they should do. They are sticking together. They are working through things."

For the unversed, Lopez and Rodriguez started dating in 2017 and announced their engagement in March 2019 while vacationing in the Bahamas. The two were set to get married in mid-2020 in Italy but had to postpone their wedding twice due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

In December 2020, Lopez told Andy Cohen on SiriusXM's Radio Andy, "It was really sad because we were supposed to get married in June and we had planned it all. And we were going to get married in Italy. It was, yeah, it was like, I was like, 'OK, we got to cancel everything'."