It's over: Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony announce shock split after seven years of marriage

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 1:14 AM on 16th July 2011

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.

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

She told Ellen DeGeneres in January: 'As soon as I had the babies, I thought to myself, "I want to do this a thousand more times". I love this. This is life.'

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 marriage, the ink was still drying from Anthony's divorce from first wife, former Miss Universe Dayanara Torre.

The pair renewed their wedding in 2008 and again last year as they celebrated their sixth anniversary.

Lopez had 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 JLos 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.

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