Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony end seven year marriage

Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony have split after seven years together.

The couple, who are parents to three-year-old twins Max and Emme, made the shock announcement in a joint statement this afternoon.

'We have decided to end our marriage,' they said.

'This was a very difficult decision. We have come to an amicable conclusion on all matters.'

Surprise separation: Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony have ended their marriage

'It is a painful time for all involved and we appreciate the respect of our privacy at this time.'
The split comes as a surprise to fans given the pair's recent and quite public displays of affection.

Lopez, 41, joined Anthony, 42, on stage during his performance at the American Idol finale on May 25, ending the racy performance with a passionate kiss.

They were last pictured together at the unveiling of her Boy's and Girl's Club billboard in Times Square in New York on June 10.

There was certainly no sign of trouble as the Puerto Rican singer turned out to support his wife, holding her hand and giving her a peck on the lips.

Read our lips: The affectionate couple at the unveiling of Simon Fuller's Hollywood star on May 23; at the American Idol finale in May and right, at their last public appearance together at a Boys and Girls Club event in New York on June 10

Where's Marc? Lopez took her mother Guadalupe to meet Prince William and Duchess Kateat the BAFTA Brits to Watch party in Los Angeles on on Saturday night

However, Anthony was notably absent at the BAFTA Brits to Watch party in Los Angeles on on Saturday night.

Lopez instead took her mother Guadalupe to meet Prince William and Duchess Kate.
During their marriage, the pair mixed business with pleasure.

They starred together in 2005's El Cantante, a film about salsa king Hector Lavoe.

That same year, they also collaborated on Lopez's first full-length Spanish language album, Como Ama Una Mujer (How a Woman Loves).

The took their love on the road as they teamed up for a tour in 2007. In November that year, Lopez announced she was pregnant.

Hands on parents: The pair with their twins Max and Emme in July last year

She described having her twins with Anthony as a life altering experience and recently hinted that more children could be on the cards.

'I think Marc would like to have more kids,' she said in January this year. 'We talk about it.'

Lopez and Anthony began dating just three weeks after her very high profile engagement to Ben Affleck was called off in January 2004.

In June that same year, they said 'I do' in a secret ceremony at her lavish Beverly Hills home.

At the time of their wedding, the ink was still drying from Anthony's divorce from first wife, former Miss Universe Dayanara Torres.
The pair renewed their wedding vows in 2008 and again last year as they celebrated their sixth anniversary.

In a VH1 documentary Behind The Music recorded last year, Lopez revealed she had briefly dated Anthony in her youth, ending it because neither was ready to settle down.
When they met up again to record a track together for Lopez's movie Shall We Dance, they reignited the flame.

'We reconnected like we had never been apart,' she recalled.

'It was really the same chemistry and connection we had at the very beginning.'

Anthony added: 'That's when we knew - we'd matured enough, seen enough and lived enough to know that we were wasting our time not being together.

'I couldn't be more in love. I say it every day - I'm the luckiest man on earth.'

Lopez has been married twice before; to restaurateur Ojani Noa, whom she split from in 1998, and former backup dancer Cris Judd, to whom she was married from 2001 to 2003.
Anthony has two sons Cristin, 10, and Ryan, 7, from his first marriage to Torres. He also has a teen daughter, Arianna, from a previous relationship.

The highs and J.Los of romance 

HUSBAND No. 1: Lopez wed Cuban-born Ojani Noa on February 22, 1997, after meeting him while he worked as a waiter at a Miami restaurant. They divorced in January 1998 but she later employed him as the manager of her Pasadena restaurant Madre's in April 2002 then fired him just six months later. She's spent the past few years trying to stop him from cashing in on their short relationship.

HUSBAND No. 2: She met Cris Judd while filming the music video for her single Love Don't Cost a Thing and the two married a year later on September 29, 2001, at a home in the L.A. suburbs. Their marriage effectively ended in June 2002, when Lopez began publicly dating Ben Affleck but they weren't officially divorced until January 2003. He now works as a choreographer in Hollywood.

A FIERY ROMANCE: Lopez had a high profile two-and-a-half-year relationship with hip-hop mogul Sean P Diddy Combs, which started to unravel after he involved her in a gun-toting police chase in Manhattan in 1999. That December the
pair were partying at Club New York when gunfire erupted between Combs' entourage and another group. Lopez and Combs were being driven away from the scene when they were chased and stopped by the police. A gun was found in the front seat of their vehicle and Combs was later charged with felony gun possession. Lopez terminated her involvement with the Bad Boy Records CEO one year later.

WE'LL ALWAYS HAVE GIGLI: Lopez and Ben Affleck began dating in 2002, quickly earning the moniker  'Bennifer.' His cameo in the Jenny From The Block video that September was universally mocked. He has said the video, where he rubs cream into her derriere, is the biggest regret of his career. Undaunted at the time, he gave J.Lo a $1.2m six-carat pink diamond ring. She gushed  that Affleck, now married to Jennifer Garner, was 'the one'. Starring together in 2003 flop Gigli cemented the damage started by the video and the union was universally lampooned. Their September 14, 2003, wedding in Santa Barbara was called off just hours before the event. They split in January 2004.

JENNIFER LOPEZ & MARC ANTHONY ANNOUNCE SPLIT

O to the M G! I did not see this coming - One of Hollywood's most solid couples, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony have announced today (July 15th) their split via a joint statement sent to PEOPLE magazine!

"We have decided to end our marriage". "This was a very difficult decision. We have come to an amicable conclusion on all matters". "It is a painful time for all involved," the statement continues, "and we appreciate the respect of our privacy at this time."

Say what!?...BUT WHY? The last time we saw the couple together was during their FIRE performance on the 'American Idol' finale back in May, and they certainly looked very in love. J.LO won't shake her behind like THAT if she wasn't in love. I'm very sad at this! They seemed like the perfect couple! The title of Jennifer's latest album, "LOVE?", couldn't be more appropriate for this occasion. Jennifer and Marc are parents of two children, 3-year-old twins Max and Emme. In the end, I'm glad the split is amicable.

THOUGHTS?

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