It is the love story that is currently enrapturing everyone. Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck have reconnected and married almost 20 years after they first began dating. While the two last turtled through Paris and Italy, one of Jennifer's exes now speaks up.
Ojani Noa and Jennifer Lopez met in 1996 at Gloria Estefan's restaurant in Miami. At that time he had been living in the USA as an illegal refugee from Cuba for seven years. He had started out washing dishes at Lario's and now worked as a waiter. Lopez previously directed Money Train with Woody Harrelson. In an interview with the "Daily Mail", Noa remembers that he thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world. He was immediately smitten. Later, "Jen," as he still calls her today, told him that she knew from the first meeting that she would marry him.
According to Noa, the first kiss was while dancing in a club. The actress then flew back to Los Angeles. On their next visit to Miami, the couple appeared together on the red carpet for the first time. They had sex for the first time in the hotel. "I felt like Mr. Cinderella," Noa says.
The former model also emphasizes in the interview that he "never wanted anything from her". "I've always worked and had my own money." He bought her an engagement ring from him and proposed to her at the party at the end of the filming of "Selena". "She cried, laughed and said yes," he recalls.
But with fame, according to Noa, came people around Jennifer Lopez who wanted to make money with her. When he called, they didn't put him through. After the wedding she recorded an album that Sean Combs aka Puff Daddy produced. Suddenly, pictures of the two appeared on dates. When he asked her about it, she said it was "just for business". Then he yelled at her: "But you're married!"
In 1998 the couple separated and divorced. Shortly thereafter, she and Puff Daddy were officially dating. According to Noa, she kept in touch with him all the time and wanted to renew the relationship from time to time. Instead, she married her dancer Chris Judd after the love affair with Puff Daddy. In 2002, the first husband claims to have met Ben Affleck. He thinks the actor is a "good guy". And what does he say about his ex's love reunion with Ben? "I'm happy she went back to Ben, but I don't think it will last." Jennifer will marry "seven or eight times". "I can't imagine her settling down with one person. She's constantly pushing forward in her career, which is why she's had his three-plus decades, but she's doing the same in her personal life."
Today, Noa and Lopez no longer have contact. In 2005 he was fired as manager of their restaurant. After he sued, an agreement was reached out of court. "For many years I felt burned and hurt. I think if she hadn't had all these people around, we could still be together."
Jennifer Lopez has not yet commented on her ex-husband's statements.
