Jennifer Lynn Lopez , also known as JLo, is an American singer, actress, dancer, fashion designer, author, and producer. Her acting debut came with a minor role in the film My Little Girl (1986); later Lopez gained her first regular high-profile job as a Fly Girl dancer on In Living Color in 1991, where she remained a regular until she decided to pursue an acting career in 1993. She received her first leading role in the Selena biopic of the same name in 1997. For her role in Out of Sight the following year, Lopez became the first Latina actress to earn over US$1 million for a film. She ventured into the music industry in 1999 with her debut studio album On the 6 preceded by the number-one single “If You Had My Love”. With the simultaneous release of her second studio album J.Lo and her film The Wedding Planner in 2001, Lopez became the first woman to have a number one album and film in the same week. Her 2002 remix album, J to tha L–O! The Remixes, became the first in history to debut at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200, while her fifth studio album, Como Ama una Mujer (2007), received the highest first-week sales for a debut Spanish album in the United States. Along with Pitbull and Claudia Leitte, she recorded “We Are One (Ole Ola)”, which served as the official song of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. With a cumulative film gross of over US$3 billion and global record sales of 80 million, she is regarded as the most influential Hispanic performer in the United States, as well as its highest paid Latin entertainer. Beyond entertainment, Lopez enjoys a highly successful business career consisting of various clothing lines, accessories, fragrances, a production company, and television shows and a charitable foundation, among other ventures. Lopez’s personal relationships have attracted worldwide media attention; she has been married three times. Following the breakdown of her first marriage, Lopez dated rapper and entertainment mogul Sean Combs. Following the breakdown of her second marriage, to husband Cris Judd, she had a high-profile relationship with actor Ben Affleck, with their planned wedding being cancelled four days before the ceremony. Lopez then wed longtime friend Marc Anthony; they separated after seven years of marriage. Lopez gave birth to their twins, Emme and Maximilian, in 2008. Lopez’s personal life has attracted widespread media attention. From February 22, 1997, to January 1998, she was married to Cuban waiter Ojani Noa. Since their brief marriage, Lopez has endured legal troubles regarding Noa. In April 2006, she sued to prevent him from publishing a book about their marriage, contending that it violated their confidentiality agreement. The following year, a court-appointed arbitrator issued a permanent injunction forbidding Noa from “criticizing, denigrating, casting in a negative light or otherwise disparaging” Lopez. She was awarded $545,000 in compensatory damages and Noa was ordered to hand over all copies of materials related to the book to Lopez or her attorney. A lawsuit regarding a compromising private honeymoon video in Noa’s possession is presently running. While working on her first album, On the 6, Lopez began dating record producer and rapper Sean Combs. On December 27, 1999, the couple were arrested along with two others in connection with a shooting outside the Times Square Club in New York. They were charged with criminal possession of a weapon as well as stolen property. Lopez was soon exonerated, having had nothing to do with the crime. However, Combs was charged and indicted by a Manhattan grand jury. After leaving Combs, Lopez developed a relationship with former back-up dancer Cris Judd, to whom she was married from September 29, 2001, to June 2002. Following her second divorce, she commenced a high-profile relationship with actor and director Ben Affleck, to whom she became engaged in November 2002. The media began to refer to them as “Bennifer”, and they became a prominent supercouple in the media and popular culture. Bennifer became a popular term, which was eventually entered into urban dictionaries and neologism dictionaries as notable, as the name blend started the trend of other celebrity couples being referred to by the combination of their first names. The couple postponed their nuptials indefinitely a day prior to the planned ceremony in September 2003, citing the media’s interference with the event as the reason. Anthony and Lopez, 2006 Following her break-up with Affleck in January 2004, Lopez began dating longtime friend Marc Anthony (real name: Marco Antonio Muñiz). The couple wed that June, and lived in Brookville, New York. Two men attempted to ransom a private wedding video that was stolen from the couple for one million dollars; however, they were arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court on charges of conspiracy, attempted grand larceny and possession of stolen property. On November 7, 2007, during the final night of their co-headlining tour, Lopez and Anthony officially confirmed that they were expecting their first child. The announcement ended months of speculation over the pregnancy. Her father confirmed that the couple were expecting twins, revealing that it runs in the family: “My sister also had twins, so it’s a hereditary thing.” Lopez gave birth to a son, Maximilian David, and a daughter, Emme Maribel, in Long Island, New York, on February 22, 2008. The twins were introduced in the March 11, 2008, issue of People, for which the magazine paid a reported $6 million; the photographs of the twins became the most expensive celebrity picture ever taken at the time. Three years later in July 2011, the couple announced their split, with Anthony filing for divorce in April 2012. Their divorce was finalized on June 16, 2014, with Lopez retaining primary physical custody of the two children. On December 31, 2014, she legally changed her name back to Jennifer Lopez, dropping Anthony’s last name (Muñiz). In October 2011, Lopez began dating her former backup dancer Casper Smart. They temporarily split in June 2014, but reconciled several months later. The couple ended their relationship again in August 2016.
