5:56pm UK, Friday January 23, 2004

The on-off relationship between Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez is reportedly off again.

180 Jennifer Lopez & Ben Affleck gigli premiere

The break-up was confirmed by J.Lo's media spokesman after People and Us Weekly magazines reported the breakup on their Web sites.

A spokesman for Lopez said: "I am confirming the reports that Jennifer Lopez has ended her engagement to Ben Affleck. At this difficult time, we ask that you respect her privacy."

Affleck's publicist, Ken Sunshine, would only say: "As usual, we never comment on the private lives of our clients."

Lopez, 34, and Affleck, 31, have been the subject of near-constant media scrutiny for the past year and a half.

They were supposed to have married last year, but abruptly postponed their lavish plans "due to the excessive media attention surrounding our wedding."

Since then, the media have followed their every move, keeping track of who Lopez was with and whether she wore her 6.1-carat pink diamond Harry Winston engagement ring.

This would have been the first wedding for Affleck. Lopez has been married twice before- to waiter Ojani Noa in 1997 and to dancer Cris Judd in 2001.

Noa lasted a little more than a year; Judd for nine months.

She also famously dated rapper Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs for two years before the couple broke up in February 2001.