JLo cancels summer tour as Affleck split rumors swirl

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck are seen in Hollywood in February 2024

Los Angeles (AFP) - Jennifer Lopez said Friday she was cancelling her summer tour to spend more time with her family as rumors circulate over a split with actor-husband Ben Affleck.

The announcement from the singer and her promoter also comes after reports that sales for the mutli-date event were flagging.

In her newsletter "On the JLo" which she sent to fans on Friday she revealed the tour was off.

"I am completely heartsick and devastated about letting you down. Please know that I wouldn't do this if I didn't feel that it was absolutely necessary," Lopez wrote.

"I promise I will make it up to you and we will all be together again. I love you all so much. Until next time..."

The email also included a message from tour promoter Live Nation noting that "Jennifer is taking time off to be with her children, family and close friends."

The cancellation comes after a number of adjustments and curtailments were made to the tour, including slicing dates off and rebranding it as a greatest hits tour, rather than one focused on her latest album.

But it also comes with Lopez and Affleck's apparent troubles dominating the tabloid and entertainment press.

Reports suggest the pair -- who married in 2022, almost two decades after their first relationship fell apart -- have been living separately in Los Angeles.

People Magazine said relations between the "Good Will Hunting" star, 51, and the "On The Floor" singer, 54, were strained because of their different approaches to celebrity.

"She likes to open her heart to her fans and to the world," the magazine quoted an unnamed source saying.

"He is more introspective and private. This has been difficult day-to-day."

The pair first met on the set of the widely panned movie "Gigli," released 2003.

They became a media sensation as they dated but postponed their planned 2003 nuptials, then announced their relationship was over in early 2004.

"Bennifer" -- the couple's public nickname from their first highly publicized relationship -- set the internet alight in 2021 when photos of them together again began circulating. 

They wed in a small ceremony in Nevada in July the following year, and then had a star-studded ceremony at Affleck's lavish 87-acre (35-hectare) waterfront compound in the southeastern US state of Georgia in August.

The couple reportedly bought a $60 million home together in Los Angeles last year.

© Agence France-Presse