Jennifer Lopez Doesn't "Really Count" Her Marriage to Cris Judd

KMazur/WireImage Jennifer Lopez, Cris Judd

Who: Dancer, choreographer, and actor Cris Judd, 51, and Grammy-nominated singer, actress, dancer, and businesswoman Jennifer Lopez, 51.

How They Met: Judd and Lopez first crossed paths in 2000, on the set of the latter's "Love Don't Cost a Thing" music video. Judd was a backup dancer for the star — catch him at around 2:44 to Lopez's right.

"When Jennifer walks in, I shake her hand and we kinda look at each other — and in my head, I'm like, 'Oh my God, I'm going to marry this woman,'" Judd said of meeting the multi-hyphenate.

They were able to skirt the press for a while, separate exits and all that … But a visit to the Oscars in March 2001 sealed their paparazzi-laden fate.

"I guess the first introduction to me being with her was when we were at the Oscars," Judd remembered. "It was just bedlam. I've never seen so many people concentrated in one place, especially cameras. I knew she was there to do a job, and so I was just that guy who was just by her side."

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That June, Judd reportedly proposed at a barbecue (?). That September, the couple wed in a "secret" ceremony that the press was of course tipped off to the day prior.

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Judd and Lopez tied the knot before 170 of their nearest and dearest at a private residence in Calabasas. Benny Medina, Lopez's manager, served as best man, and also tagged along on the couple's honeymoon ...

Joe Buissink/WireImage

Why We Loved Them: Even post-split, Judd and Lopez remained so complimentary of one another.

In 2014, Lopez was asked by Watch What Happens Live host Andy Cohen whether actors or singers were better in bed. The Maid in Manhattan star answered "singers and dancers" (Sorry, Ben!). "I've dated two dancers," she continued, "One, I had a brief marriage with, Cris Judd, who is an amazing person and whom I love."

While Judd hasn't exactly followed Lopez's life or career in the years since their divorce, he wished his ex "the best" in 2019, telling TooFab that he hoped her new movie at the time, Hustlers, "does really well." It did, Cris!

He also told Us Weekly that anyone who denied that his ex looked great "is lying." That's simply a fact. "She looks fantastic, that goes without a doubt," he said.

Still, our favorite Jen & Cris post-split moment has to be when the choreographer appeared to confirm his ex's pregnancy before she did.

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Amid media speculation in October 2007, Judd told Us, "she has always wanted to be a mom, so I am very happy for her." Lopez herself confirmed the news two weeks later. Of course, it's likely that a reporter approached Judd with the news, presenting it as fact to elicit a response, but still, it's pretty funny.

When They Peaked:

Perhaps when they decided to match their tinted sunglasses?

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Or maybe when all of this happened?

KMazur/WireImage

The Breakup: In July 2002, Lopez filed for divorce from her second husband, citing irreconcilable differences.

"Jennifer Lopez and Cris Judd have announced they have resolved all issues arising out of their marriage," the couple's lawyers shared in a statement at the time. "The resolution was extremely amicable . . . The two will remain friends."

Of course, this news broke just months after Lopez had wrapped Gigli … alongside her next boyfriend (and soon to be fiancé), Ben Affleck. Cue the cheating rumors.

Lopez vehemently denied that she and Affleck had been romantic prior to her divorce.

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"I'm a very faithful person," she told Reader's Digest the following year. "If somebody had told me, 'Ben's attracted to you', I would have said, 'No, I wasn't raised that way."

During a 2002 interview with Diane Sawyer, Lopez explained how her relationship with Affleck was different from her previous relationships.

"Before it was almost like I had control of the things, so I wasn't afraid to kind of be in there, in the fire. The fire was far enough away that I can dance around in there, and this time it was just smothering me and so hot. It made me afraid. [Ben's] bigger and realer. You just feel it. It's different, totally different than anything you've ever experienced." Sorry, Cris.

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"I've been married twice but I haven't had a marriage yet," she told Sawyer, referencing both her marriage to Judd and her similarly short-lived marriage to Ojani Noa.

"This is not to take anything away from Cris or Ojani," she continued, "who are wonderful people and who I loved very much, but I think it more had to do with me."

Lopez told Sawyer that a trip she'd taken with Judd confirmed to her that their marriage would not work.

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Despite the media blitz that was Bennifer (part 1), Lopez said that her relationship with Judd "made me very cautious to fall in love with anybody."

Though Judd tried to dissuade him, the dancer's father went to the press following his son's divorce. Larry Judd told the Daily News that while his former daughter-in-law had claimed she and Affleck began dating after her split, "she was infatuated with [him] from the start."

Judd said he didn't speak to his father for more than a year following the interview.

In 2003, Lopez shed more light on her relationship with Judd, which began shortly after she and P. Diddy split."

Coming out of a torrid relationship, I meet this sweet person who's so refreshing," she told Vibe. "But marriage is not just about love. I thought I had learned that in my first marriage … I loved Cris, still love him, he's one of the best people. This wasn't an easy thing to walk away from, but we didn't have what it takes to make a marriage work … Cris knows the last thing I ever wanted in this fucking world was to hurt him."

KMazur/WireImage

Though Judd maintains it "had no bearing" on his marriage, he's since admitted that it was "tough to be in that limelight."

"Your privacy is breached," he told Us. "You're no longer a normal person. [Our wedding] was a circus. I think several people got arrested trying to climb up a mountain… trying to sneak in."

As for the marriage itself? "It just didn't work out."

In 2019, Lopez revealed that she didn't "really count" her first two marriages, both of which were under a year in length. "I was very young the first two times I tried to get married," she said, elucidating, "I would say try to get married."

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"It seems like in this life, you're always surrounded by people, you're never lonely, but it's very lonely," she continued. "So you always want somebody with you. Somebody. And so, I felt like if I got married I felt like I would always have somebody, but that's not how life works."

Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images

Lopez admitted that was a "bad reason to get married, not the right reason, it's the wrong one."

Where They Are Now:

Judd wed Kelly Wolfe in 2009. They share a 7-year-old daughter, Vivienne.

Lopez went on to marry (and divorce) Marc Anthony, with whom she welcomed twins Max and Emme Muñiz in 2008. She recently broke off her engagement with Alex Rodriguez and has recently incited internet revelry with an alleged reunion with former fiancé Affleck.

The performer recently wrapped her upcoming film Shotgun Wedding, which (along with Owen Wilson rom-com Marry Me) will come out in 2022.

#TBT: Check in every Thursday as we throw it back to some of our favorite celebrity couples of all time.