Insights on Jennifer Lopez’s Brief First Marriage

As the star of “The Wedding Planner” and “Marry Me,” Jennifer Lopez seems to have more luck with on-screen husbands than real-life spouses. The triple-threat powerhouse has said “I do,” followed by “I don’t”, four times. She made up half of the couple known as “Bennifer” with Ben Affleck. Before her marriage to Affleck in 2022, she moved her way into the heart of dancer Cris Judd. After that relationship dissolved, she made sweet music and two babies with husband and singer Marc Anthony. However, it’s Ojani Noa who has the distinction of being the first of J.Lo’s four husbands. He also holds the record for having the shortest marriage to the pop star, who called it quits before their first anniversary.

The irony of being a four-time divorcee who tells stories of love and marriage through her craft isn’t lost on the brunette bombshell from the Bronx. Her marital missteps were the topic of the video for her hit song, “Can’t Get Enough,” and she once made light of her relationships in a red carpet interview, telling Variety that her expertise lies in weddings, not marriage. On a more serious note, during the “It’s My Party” tour, Jenny from the block admitted that she “doesn’t count” her first two marriages due to their short durations and her youth. That couldn’t have been good news to Noa, the waiter who served his heart on a platter to the future megastar decades ago.

Growing up from humble beginnings in Cuba, Ojani Noa may have never imagined that he would one day marry one of the most beautiful, famous, and talented women in the world. In fact, navigating his way into J.Lo’s heart started by crossing some pretty rough waters — specifically the 90-mile stretch of ocean that leads from Cuba to Florida.

When he was just a young teenager, Noa and six of his friends decided to flee their home country and go in search of the American dream. Against all odds, the crew made the trek on an inflatable dinghy that was just 6-feet long. “It was a miracle we survived the crossing,” he told Daily Mail.

That was just the first of many miracles that befell the handsome young Cuban who settled in Miami and began hustling to make ends meet, doing everything from washing cars to using his rugged good looks to land a few modeling jobs. But it wasn’t until he landed a dishwashing gig at Lario’s On The Beach, the Miami restaurant owned by famous female entertainer Gloria Estefan, that his life took a fortuitous turn. Noa was soon out of the kitchen and in the front of the house waiting tables at Estefan’s famous eatery. It was there that a particular patron caught his eye. “She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen,” he told Daily Mail.

When Jennifer Lopez walked into Lario’s On The Beach and into the heart of Ojani Noa, she was already garnering buzz from her stint on “In Living Color.” She was also fresh off of the movie “Money Train” and was filming the film “Blood and Wine” with Hollywood heavy hitters Jack Nicholson and Michael Caine. However, as Noa admitted to Daily Mail, “I had no idea who she was.”

He continued, telling the publication that when she returned to the restaurant the following night, “I was smitten. She was wearing a white top and trousers, and I remember thinking she had the best body I’d ever seen.” By Noa’s account, the pair hit it off immediately. That meet-up led to a night of clubbing and dancing that ended in a kiss. It wasn’t until she returned to Miami for the premiere of “Blood and Wine,” though, that things got serious.

After joining her on the red carpet and hobnobbing with the stars, Noa took Lopez back to her hotel. “That was the first time we made love. It was perfect. She was perfect,” he told Daily Mail. “We lay there afterwards and she said, ‘I want you to always be in my life. I love you.’ I felt like Mr Cinderella.”

Love at first sight might be a stretch, but according to Ojani Noa, Jennifer Lopez told him that she knew she would marry him the first time they met. She wasn’t wrong. After relocating to L.A. from Miami to live with his newfound love, Noa proposed at the wrap party for “Selena” — the movie that would make Lopez a household name.

“They were making speeches. I grabbed the mic and said, ‘Jennifer, I love you. Will you marry me?’ Everyone was cheering. I went down on one knee and gave her the ring,” he recalled to Daily Mail. The $15,000 ring was one that the singer had pointed out while shopping on location in San Antonio, Texas. Although Noa admitted that the ring cost a pretty penny at the time, he’d save up for it. “I’d been working as [Lopez’s] personal trainer but also had modelling money,” he explained.

The couple said “I do” at a friend’s home in Miami in a garden ceremony overlooking the water, much to the dismay of Lopez’ mother who, according to Noa, wanted her daughter to get married back home in the Bronx. The ensuing tension between mother and daughter caused problems between the groom and his future mother-in-law. Although the bride ultimately got her wishes (because, who could tell J.Lo no?), it wasn’t the best start to the marriage, and the honeymoon period was over almost before it began.

The movie “Selena” was a huge success, and with it the Jennifer Lopez train was officially out of the station and going full-steam ahead. Ojani Noa watched as his wife went from an up-and-coming star to a bonafide Hollywood celebrity almost overnight. Suddenly, she was in demand and evolving her image into what would ultimately become the singer, dancer, actor known as J.Lo.

As her public persona grew, the couple’s private life began to fall apart. “She went from Jen to being J Lo, this big business bringing in millions,” he told Daily Mail, adding that her assistant often told him she was “unavailable” when he’d call. That would be a hard pill for any person to swallow, but when you’re a regular Joe married to someone who is becoming stratospherically famous before your eyes, it can be eve more challenging. The line between what’s real and what isn’t can get blurred.

Noa learned that the hard way when, while he was busy launching a nightclub co-owned by his wife in L.A., she was stepping out in New York with Sean Combs aka P. Diddy. The two were collaborating on a Lopez album, but Noa didn’t appreciate the buzz they were generating. When he confronted Lopez about it, she reportedly blamed it on business and said she was being told to go out with Combs for publicity. That did nothing to soothe Noa’s jealousy, and things only got worse.

Fame and all that it entails can put any relationship to the test. For Ojani Noa and Jennifer Lopez, it proved to be too much. Her career and image became the priority, and any hopes and dreams they shared for the future, like starting a family, were put on the back burner. “We wanted kids, we discussed having kids. Then she told me she couldn’t have a baby because it would interfere with her career,” Noa reveled to Daily Mail. As his marriage continued to crack under the pressure of his wife’s career, Noa said it took a toll on him not only emotionally but also physically. He said he dropped 40 pounds off of his normally buff body due to the stress of trying to hold his marriage together while pretending everything was perfect when the cameras were rolling.

The couple called it quits just one month before their first anniversary, a decision that left Noa heartbroken. “For many years I felt burned, bruised. I think if she hadn’t had all those people around her then we might still be together,” he told Daily Mail. For her part, Lopez thinks she may have married for the wrong reasons, namely loneliness. In a video for the “It’s My Party” tour, the singer confessed, “I felt like if I got married I felt like I would always have somebody, but that’s not how life works.”

Divorce is never easy, but in some cases it can be amicable. Some former spouses even go so far as to stay friendly. That was the case for Ojani Noa and Jennifer Lopez. They not only stayed close, but Noa claimed that his former spouse would sometimes express a desire to try again. “There were times she told me she wanted to get back together. In quiet moments she would say, ‘I need you in my life. I don’t want to lose you,'” he told Daily Mail.

Although they didn’t get back together, Noa did remain in Lopez’s life. A few years after their divorce, in which Noa reportedly received a paltry $50,000 settlement, Lopez opened the L.A. restaurant, Madres, and hired her ex to manage it for her. There, he had a front row seat to his former wife’s current relationships, which included a marriage to Cris Judd, and the first round of the Ben Affleck saga. Noa, who said he still wore his wedding ring for a while following the divorce, began to see that maybe the “Shotgun Wedding” star was not the marrying type. “I can’t see her ever settling down with one person,” he told Daily Mail. “She pushes herself to constantly go forward in her professional life, which is why she’s had a three-decade career, but she also moves on in her private life.” It seems that finally Noa did, too.