The Truth About Jennifer Lopez's Relationship With Alex Rodriguez

Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez — or A-Rod and J.Lo, as you may know them — are the power couple we'd all been waiting for. The retired baseball champion and the singer-turned-actress are showing us what true love looks like between celebs that's real, honest, and all around meant to be.

Both giants in their own right, J-Rod finally came to be in 2017, after both Rodriguez and Lopez had been through multiple relationships with other people. But that doesn't mean that they weren't on each other's radar long before they started slaying on the red carpet together, as their romance was years — even decades — in the making. Can you imagine how amazing it must have felt when Rodriguez and Lopez finally smooched for the first time?

So if you're as big of a fan of J-Rod as we are, you're in luck! We sleuthed out all of the details and fun facts about our favorite celebrity couple; read on to find out everything we've discovered about Jennifer Lopez's relationship with Alex Rodriguez.

Alex Rodriguez has had his eye on Jennifer Lopez for a long time — a really long time. In fact, his appreciation for the Hustlers actress can be traced all the way back to a 1998 video clip, believe it or not! Rodriguez posted the throwback on his Instagram, in which he answered that his ideal date, without hesitation, was Lopez. "Hopefully you can find me a date with her," he added. Fortunately, Rodriguez managed to do that for himself, albeit many years later.

If you needed some additional proof that Rodriguez and Lopez were destined to be together, once again, all you need to do is head to Rodriguez's Instagram page. In another throwback post in 2018, Rodriguez shared an autographed photo of Lopez from the late '90s. "#TBT to almost 20 years ago when a big time global pop superstar signed a pic for a young ball player," Rodriguez wrote in the caption. That is just too cute!

If you were around in the '90s, then you probably remember both Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez dominating the headlines. And though they naturally were aware of the other's existence, the pair didn't physically meet until 2005, before a baseball game at Shea Stadium. As Lopez tells it, their introduction was quite memorable. "We shook hands, and it was this weird electricity for, like, three seconds," she revealed in an interview with Sports Illustrated. "Three to five seconds of looking at somebody right in their eyes, and getting stuck."

Alas, the reason for Lopez being at the stadium in the first place was because her then husband, Marc Anthony, had thrown the first pitch that day (via Vanity Fair). Additionally, Rodriguez was also married to Cynthia Scurtis, though he was reportedly accused of cheating on her multiple times (via HuffPost). In a nutshell, the time just wasn't right for Lopez and Rodriguez, though of course, all of that would later change.

After many years, several marriages, and several children, Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez were finally both single at the same time. That's when they had a fateful encounter at a restaurant in Beverly Hills in 2016, after Lopez put her shyness aside and decided to say hello. "I could literally just have walked away," she explained to Vanity Fair. "But I walk over and tap him on the shoulder and say 'Hey.'" Thus their courtship officially began.

As Lopez tells it, she wasn't exactly dressed to the nines, but like that really matters? It's J.Lo, so you know she was looking fabulous as usual. "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 continued. "He looks at me. I say, 'It's Jennifer.' He says, 'You look so beautiful.'" See?

After presumably swapping phone numbers, Rodriguez called Lopez just hours later, and the pair agreed to get together for dinner in a couple of days.

After running into each other in Beverly Hills, Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez got together over dinner at the Hotel Bel Air. Apparently, that night Rodriguez was feeling talkative, as he put all of his cards on the table right away. "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," Lopez shared in a chat with Vanity Fair. 

While Lopez was under the impression that it definitely was a date, Rodriguez wasn't about to assume anything. "I didn't know if it was a date," he confessed. "Maybe we were seeing each other at night because of her work schedule. I went in uneasy, not knowing her situation."

Eventually, after Lopez shared that she was indeed single, Rodriguez excused himself to collect his thoughts — and summon the courage to send Lopez a text telling her she's "sexy AF." At that point, the fire alarm went off (literally), but no interruption could slow the burgeoning romance between the two of them.

Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez are both giants in the entertainment world who've been working for decades. For Lopez, she's been successful in both the music and movie businesses, as well as on social media as an influencer. Of course, Rodriguez was a popular baseball player who parlayed his success into television. To that end, they've both developed unique skill sets over the years. "I've been in the public eye, I've navigated the media in a certain way, I'm creative and artistic and have all these skill sets," Lopez explained to Sports Illustrated. "He's a business-minded guy who knows math and numbers and money and equity and all that stuff."

As it turned out, Lopez and Rodriguez ended up helping each other out professionally, in addition to having a romance worthy of #RelationshipGoals. "What I was missing, he kind of had," Lopez continued. "And what he was missing, I had." Indeed that's true, and in more ways than one!

After getting to know each other and falling in love, Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez went public with their relationship in 2017. Shortly thereafter, Rodriguez sang Lopez's praises on national television, to the delight of both the hosts and the audience. "We're having a great time," he revealed on an episode of The View. "She's an amazing, amazing girl, one of the smartest human beings I've ever met, and also an incredible mother."

As for what you might not know about Lopez? In addition to being a track star in high school, Rodriguez said Lopez is decidedly more low-key than you might expect. "She just likes simple things," he continued. "She's a very, very simple person, loves family, is a great sister, a great daughter."

Apparently, Lopez also loves chocolate chip ice cream and chocolate chip cookies when she indulges, according to Rodriguez. It's sweet how quickly he learned all of the little things about her!

Anyone who so much as looks at Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez can see how much they belong together. Besides being insanely compatible, they also have similar origin stories, so much so that they feel like kindred spirits. "We are very much twins," Rodriguez told Vanity Fair. "We're both Leos; we're both from New York; we're both Latino and about 20 other things." They even have similar nicknames, which is especially cute.

Additionally, both Lopez and Rodriguez skyrocketed to fame in their 20s, faced challenges in their 30s, and emerged in their 40s with a career renaissance. It's no wonder, then, that the couple makes so much sense together. "I understand him in a way that I don't think anyone else could," Lopez revealed. "And he understands me in a way that no one else could ever." Awww!

Now that they're a team, there's no stopping J-Rod from accomplishing whatever they want to in life.

Both Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez have gone through seriously difficult times in their lives. For Lopez, the worst was in 2003, when the film she did with then-boyfriend Ben Affleck, Gigli, turned out to be a major flop — and the fallout was brutal. "I was eviscerated," she confessed in an interview with Vanity Fair. "I lost my sense of self, questioned if I belonged in this business, thought maybe I did suck at everything." She added that it took her two years to fully recover from the entire mess. Fortunately, Jennifer Lopez has continued having a stunning transformation!

As for Rodriguez, his major trials stemmed from accusations of doping, which landed him a season-long suspension and nearly killed his career. Thankfully, Rodriguez had help to get through the tribulation. "The work I did, that was one of the most painful and most rewarding experiences of my life, and it continues to this day," he explained. "I tell myself, 'I'm rounding first base and going to second base. It's a process.'"

Perhaps that's why both Lopez and Rodriguez are glad they got together later in life. "We had to grow and discover ourselves first," Lopez added.

When Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez got together, they each had children of their own from previous relationships. According to Women's Health, Lopez gave birth to fraternal twins on Feb. 22, 2008, with her then-husband Marc Anthony. Additionally, Rodriguez has two daughters from his marriage to ex-wife Cynthia Scurtis.

Naturally, when Lopez and Rodriguez got serious about their relationship, they also blended their families. The ridiculously good-looking clan often make appearances on each of their Instagram pages, whether it's on pool day, during snuggle time, or commemorating rites of passage. And if you want even more sweetness, everyone gets along swimmingly, according to Lopez. "I was so loving to his kids and he was so loving and accepting of mine, and they embraced each other right away," she gushed in an interview with People. "[It was] 'I get a new bonus brother and sisters to hang out with all the time and it's nice.'" It sure sounds like it!

When it comes to Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez's relationship, they very clearly were destined to be together. After all, they'd both given their all in partnerships before, but really didn't find their forever person until they got together. It's only natural to wonder, then: are Lopez and Rodriguez hearing wedding bells in their future? "I do believe in marriage," Lopez shared in a chat with Harper's Bazaar. "And I would love to grow old with somebody in a committed relationship."

While that definitely sounds promising for fans of J-Rod, Lopez made it clear in 2018 that she's not in a rush to get to the alter. "I'm not forcing anything right now," she continued. "It's good, it's healthy; we communicate well." Hey, if you already have that much going on for you, you're doing pretty well by any measure.

Of course, as ardent followers of Lopez and Rodriguez already know, it didn't take long for the couple to take their relationship to the next level.

In a move that surprised exactly no one (well, in a manner of speaking), in March 2019, Alex Rodriguez asked Jennifer Lopez to be his wife. The baller popped the big question to the singer in the Bahamas, where the couple had spent time together in their early days. "Very few people knew Alex planned on proposing," a source told People. "It was very much a surprise for Jennifer." The insider noted, "It was just how Alex wanted it." Of course, she said yes!

If you were ridiculously excited for Lopez and Rodriguez, don't feel like you're a goober — even former President Barack Obama sent the couple his best wishes, which Rodriguez shared on Instagram. So you're in good company, to say the least.

Six months later, Rodriguez and Lopez celebrated their engagement at a special party, as noted on Lopez's Instagram page. And for the curious, Harper's Bazaar reported that the giant rock A-Rod put on J.Lo's finger is estimated to be worth around $4.5 million, further proof that Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez lead a lavish life.

You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who wasn't stressed out by the events of 2020 in some way. But on a more positive note, there are plenty of folks who managed to find a silver lining when the whole world shut down. For Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez, that was the fact that they got to spend more time at home with their family. "Alex and I have both separately and now together lived a gypsy-type life, as both of our careers require tons of travel," she explained in an interview with People. "The blessing of the quarantine for us was having dinner with the kids every night, for months and months."

In fact, as Lopez tells it, she and Rodriguez might never have slowed down so much had outside events not forced their hand. "I don't think that would've ever happened,″ she continued. "[It] reminded us how much we need to do that more."

Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez had all of their plans upended in 2020, just like the rest of us. Unfortunately, that included their wedding plans, which ended up being stalled with no real solution in sight. "Honestly, I really don't know what's going to happen now, as far as dates or anything like that," Lopez explained on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in April of that year. "We're just kind of in a holding pattern like the rest of the world. So, again, it's something we're just going to have to wait and see in a few months how this all pans out."

By the time the end of May rolled around, Lopez and Rodriguez hadn't finalized any plans, though they were hoping to have at least "a small family celebration that will, of course, include all four kids," a source noted to People. But then in a December 2020 interview with Andy Cohen (via TooFab), she suggested that they may not get married at all. "I mean at our age, we've both been married before, it's like, do we get married? Do we not?" she said, before noting, "I think it's something that maybe is still important to us."

One thing is for sure, though: if they wed, Lopez would like to get married in a church for her fourth and (hopefully) final wedding. "I've never been married in a church," she confessed in a YouTube video. Fingers crossed, J.Lo!

Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez truly have it all. From their impressive careers to their impressive net worth (Jennifer Lopez is worth way more than you think!) to their gorgeous family, what more could they want? 

Well, as far as Lopez is concerned, it's possible that they could have a child of their own, which would delight their older kids. "I think they would love to have a brother or sister," she revealed to Extra. "They love having [Alex's daughters] Natasha and Ella in their lives and having two extra bonus sisters."

So we'll be on the lookout in case J.Lo and A-Rod decide to bring a new baby into the world. "We really form a beautiful blended family and I think they would all be thrilled," Lopez continued. And while Lopez is over 50 now (though you wouldn't guess it just by looking at her), it's still possible that J-Rod could have a child of their own.