It's off: Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez get un-engaged

NEW YORK (AP) _ Those who want to see Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez as man and wife will have to settle for the on-screen version. <br><br>Lopez ended the engagement, a spokesman at Dan Klores Communications

Friday, January 23rd 2004, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) _ Those who want to see Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez as man and wife will have to settle for the on-screen version.

Lopez ended the engagement, a spokesman at Dan Klores Communications confirmed Thursday. Affleck's publicist, Ken Sunshine, said only, ``We never comment on the private lives of our clients.''

People and Us Weekly magazines first reported the breakup on their Web sites Thursday afternoon.

Those who still need a dose of ``Bennifer'' can see Lopez, 34, and Affleck, 31, together in ``Jersey Girl,'' due out March 19. Lopez plays Affleck's wife _ though she dies 12 minutes into the movie.

Lopez and Affleck have been the subject of near-constant media scrutiny for the past year and a half. In the video for Lopez's 2002 hit ``Jenny From the Block,'' in which she makes fun of the paparazzi, Affleck rubs her legendary posterior while basking in the sunshine on a boat.

In another song from her album ``This Is Me ... Then,'' titled ``Dear Ben,'' she professes her affection for Affleck.

Their romantic comedy, ``Gigli,'' was considered the cinematic disaster of the year before it even debuted in August. They were supposed to have married a month later, but abruptly postponed their lavish plans ``due to the excessive media attention surrounding our wedding.''

Since then, the media has 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. Even a routine trip to a Georgia courthouse to get a gun license for Affleck drew a horde of photographers and celebrity reporters.

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 Sean ``P. Diddy'' Combs _ back when he was still ``Puffy'' _ for two years before the couple broke up in February 2001.