While Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez‘s reported split shocked fans, their friends were “not totally surprised,” a source close to the couple EXCLUSIVELY tells HollywoodLife. “Friends couldn’t help but see something was off in Jen and Alex’s relationship,” the insider says, who goes on to explain why the Hollywood power couple’s pals weren’t blindsided by the breakup report that surfaced on March 12.
“They had been spending more time apart and Alex was traveling more for work,” our source continues. J.Lo has been filming her new movie Shotgun Wedding in the Dominican Republic, while A-Rod is running his A-Rod Corp investment firm. “Their chemistry just wasn’t the same,” our source says, despite J.Lo, 51, and A-Rod, 45, reuniting for a romantic weekend in the Caribbean country at the end of February.
However, J.Lo only recently began filming her new rom-com. “It seems as though this was something that was a long time in the works,” our source claims, who also addresses the fact that the couple postponed their wedding twice in 2020.
Alex Rodriguez shared this photo, taken amid his reunion with Jennifer Lopez in the Dominican Republic, at the end of Feb. 2021. [Instagram/@arod]
“Despite postponing their wedding twice because of the pandemic, Jen had made it known that because she and Alex were both married before that it wasn’t something they were super pressed upon doing now, or perhaps ever. They weren’t in a big rush to get married and as time went on it wasn’t a priority to them like it had initially been,” our source points out. In Dec. 2020, J.Lo admitted that she feels like “it’s not a huge priority to go and have a big wedding right now” and that they’ve “kind of let it go for a second” during an interview with Access Hollywood.
Even though J.Lo and A-Rod didn’t end up walking down the aisle together, they still “shared a ton of amazing memories and that’s not going to stop anytime soon” after being engaged for two years, our source concludes. HollywoodLife has reached out to Jennifer and Alex’s reps for comment, but have not heard back.
Alex Rodriguez admitted that he was “missing” Jennifer Lopez in this Feb. 2021 Instagram post. [Instagram/@arod]
J.Lo was still married to Latin superstar Marc Anthony, 52, when she met A-Rod at a New York Yankees baseball game in 2005. However, their love story wouldn’t officially begin until early 2017, about six years after J.Lo and Marc split. They made their red carpet debut as couple at the 2017 Met Gala, and A-Rod proposed to J.Lo amid a dreamy getaway in The Bahamas with a diamond engagement ring estimated to be worth up to $5 million. While J.Lo said “yes” to the ring, she couldn’t say “I do” at the altar after the COVID-19 pandemic ruined their wedding plans.