“We have realized we are better as friends and look forward to remaining so,” the former couple said in a statement to the Today show. “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.”

Lopez, 51, and Rodriguez, 45, started dating in 2017 and got engaged two years later. In March, reports surfaced that the duo called it quits. The twosome subsequently denied they’d split, telling TMZ, “All the reports are inaccurate. We are working through some things.”

The split rumors came shortly after the former athlete was discussed on the season 7 reunion of Southern Charm, with Craig Conover accusing Madison LeCroy of sleeping with “ex-MLB players.” While the name was bleeped, the hairdresser later confirmed the cast was referring to Rodriguez.

“He’s never physically cheated on his fiancée with me,” LeCroy told Page Six in February. “[It’s] never been physical … never had any kind of anything. Just an acquaintance. … [We’ve talked] randomly, but not [consistently].”

Sources close to Rodriguez, meanwhile, told Us Weekly at the time that he’d “never met” the Bravo star.

One insider told Us in March that there had been “issues” in Lopez and Rodriguez’s relationship” for a while now.”

Following the scandal, however, Lopez and Rodriguez put on a united front, packing on the PDA in the Dominican Republic. Speculation that they were on the rocks resurfaced earlier this month after she seemingly ditched her ring and he was noticeably not included in her InStyle May cover story — and her ex Ben Affleck was.

“Where are you keeping the fountain of youth?“Why do you look the same as you did in 2003 and it kind of looks like I’m in my 40s … at best?” Affleck, who was engaged to Lopez from 2002 to 2004, told the magazine about his ex. “She remains, to this day, the hardest working person I’ve come across in this business. She has great talent, but she has also worked very hard for her success, and I’m so happy for her that she seems, at long last, to be getting the credit she deserves.”

Lopez’s ex-husband Marc Anthony, with whom she shares 13-year-old twins, Max and Emme, was also quoted in the cover story. Both Lopez and Rodriguez have been vocal about their love for each other’s kids over the years. The former New York Yankees star, for his part, shares daughters Natasha, 16, and Ella, 12, with ex-wife Cynthia Scurtis.

This story originally appeared on: US Magazine - Author:Sarah Hearon