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Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez began dating in 2017, years after they met for the first time. Lopez, who said she typically did not make moves like this, greeted Rodriguez when she saw him out. She didn’t think he looked her best, but he didn’t seem to mind.

Jennifer Lopez didn’t think she looked her best when she greeted Alex Rodriguez

In 2017, Lopez was having lunch in Beverly Hills when she saw Rodriguez walk past her. She had met him before but didn’t feel comfortable calling out to him.

“I almost yelled out ‘Alex,’ but I am the shyest person when it comes to things like that,” she told Vanity Fair

When she left the restaurant, though, he was still outside. While it was not something she would normally do, she felt compelled to say something to him.

“I could literally just have walked away,” she said. “But I walk over and tap him on the shoulder and say ‘Hey.’”

Jennifer Lopez wears a police badge, jacket, and sunglasses while filming 'Shades of Blue.'
Jennifer Lopez in ‘Shades of Blue’ | Alessio Botticelli/GC Images

At the time, Lopez was in costume for her show, Shades of Blue, in which she played a detective. She didn’t feel she looked her best, but she still impressed Rodriguez. 

“I had just come from a promo for my show, Shades of Blue, so I’m dressed like my character, like a boy — Timberlands, jeans, curly short hair,” she recalled. “He looks at me. I say, ‘It’s Jennifer.’ He says, ‘You look so beautiful.’”

Alex Rodriguez continued to compliment Jennifer Lopez on their first date

They agreed to meet up for dinner. While Lpoez said she viewed their outing as a first date, she wasn’t sure how Rodriguez felt.

“He was sitting there in his white shirt, very confident and manly, but then he was just so talkative!” she said. “I think he thought I was going to be this loud person, but I’m not. I just listen. So he’s talking, talking about his plans, about how he had just retired from baseball, about how he saw himself getting married again, all these things you wouldn’t normally talk about on a first date. I don’t know if he thought it was a date.”

Rodriguez admitted he wasn’t sure what Lopez’s intentions were for the dinner. When she told him she was single, though, he decided to make a move.

“She told me around the third or fourth inning that she was single,” he said. “I had to get up and go re-adjust my thoughts. I went to the bathroom and got enough courage to send her a text.”

The text he sent was, “You look sexy AF.” While both Lopez and Rodriguez laughed about it, it appeared to have worked on her.

The couple ended their engagement in 2021

Rodriguez proposed to Lopez in 2019. After a two-year engagement, they decided to go their separate ways

Jennifer Lopez wears orange and stands with Alex Rodriguez, who wears a suit. They stand in front of a pink wall.
Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez | ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images
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“We have realized we are better as friends and look forward to remaining so,” they said in a statement to Today, adding, “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.”

After their breakup, Lopez went on to marry Ben Affleck. Rodriguez is currently dating fitness instructor Jaclyn Cordeiro.