Affleck, Lopez Break Up

Jan. 23, 2004 -- The age of Bennifer has ended. Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez are history.

A representative for Lopez confirmed the breakup to ABCNEWS.

"I am confirming the report that Jennifer Lopez has ended her engagement to Ben Affleck," she said. "At this difficult time, we ask that you respect her privacy."

The 18-month relationship ended Tuesday, three days after Affleck returned to Los Angeles from the Sundance Film Festival, and the decision was mutual, sources told Us magazine.

Her publicist confirmed the breakup to Us Weekly, the magazine's editor, Janice Min, said today on Good Morning America.

"He basically told us, you know, yes, it's true, it's over, but please respect her privacy right now. She would like to grieve the relationship in private," she said.

Lopez, 34, is said to have grown weary of Affleck's behavior, which included frequent visits to casinos, sources told Us

"It was a situation where she wasn't happy with some of the lifestyle choices that were going on," Min said. "She is really a goodie-goodie. Contrary to what a lot of people think, the way she dresses and behaves, in public she really is quite a square."

Tired of Waiting

Affleck, 31, was not ready to commit to the relationship, and Lopez was angry after he was photographed in a German nightclub partying with friend Matt Damon.

"She was tired of waiting for him to come around," Us quoted a source as saying. The actress-singer was said to be wanting to start a family.

Ken Sunshine, a representative for Affleck, declined to comment.

Lopez spent her first night as a single woman at Morton's, a restaurant in West Hollywood, where she was spotted without the Harry Winston engagement ring that Affleck had given her on her finger.

Sharing the Screen

Affleck was said to be at a Los Angeles casino with friends and declined to speak with an Us Weekly reporter. The actor, currently starring in Paycheck, was seen gambling at 5 a.m.

Affleck and Lopez called off wedding plans last September, just four days before they were supposedly set to exchange vows at a seaside hotel in Santa Barbara, Calif.

Last month, Affleck had resisted talking about the future of the closely watch couple and said they were trying to keep their personal life private.

"Jennifer Lopez and I are going to take our life at our own pace," he told Diane Sawyer on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America. And we're going to make the decision that's right for us. And we're going to do it in a private way."

In an interview with Sawyer on ABCNEWS' Primetime, Lopez admitted that the pair never seemed a perfect match, but she said that there were similarities that were perhaps not so obvious.

"We've talked about this so many times," she said. "And we talked about how people kind of see him with one type of person and me with another type of person, and the two of us together is like 'How did that happen?,' and how we're more alike and from the same kind of background and, you know, same kind of upbringing and same jkind of family and same kind of house."

The two will star in Jersey Girl, their second film together, next month.