Jennifer Lopez’s first husband, actor Ojani Noa, has claimed that disgraced music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs was partially to blame for their divorce.
Lopez, 55, who filed for divorce from fourth husband Ben Affleck in August, was married to Noa, 50, for less than a year from February 1997 to January 1998.
Speaking on a recent episode of the Spanish-language talk show Despierta América, Noa alleged that “part of that divorce was Diddy’s fault.”
He explained that during the fallout of their marriage, Lopez had begun working closely with Combs in New York on her debut album, On the 6. Meanwhile, Noa was in Los Angeles working at Lopez’s Pasadena restaurant Madre’s.
“There, in that distance, in that separation, was where the deception started,” he said.
Shortly after their divorce, Combs and Lopez stepped out as a couple in 1999. They dated for two years, before splitting in 2001.
Elsewhere in the interview, Noa alleged that Lopez had blocked him from landing television gigs.
“I would ask Jennifer, ‘What did I do to you so that you have taken me to court, you have accused me, you have lied, you have created false things about me and you have called several companies to throw me out and different television networks not to give me work?’” he recounted.
The Independent has contacted Lopez’s representative for comment.
Just months after her split from Combs, Lopez went on to marry dancer and actor Cris Judd, who she later divorced in 2003. Then in 2004, she married fellow singer Marc Anthony, with whom she shares 16-year-old twins Emme and Max. They eventually divorced in 2014.
Last month, Combs was arrested and indicted on charges of federal racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. The rapper, who continues to plead not guilty to the charges, remains in jail at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center. Combs is being held without bond as he awaits trial, which is scheduled to begin next May.
Since he’s been in custody, the music producer has been hit with a wave of lawsuits from numerous plaintiffs accusing him of sexual assault. The most recent accusation comes from a woman who claims Combs assaulted her at an MTV Video Music Awards after-party when she was 13.
Combs’s attorneys have continued to deny all of the accusations made against the rapper, calling him “an innocent man with nothing to hide.”
“Mr. Combs and his legal team have full confidence in the facts, their legal defenses, and the integrity of the judicial process,” his team said in a statement. “In court, the truth will prevail that Mr. Combs has never sexually assault anyone – adult or minor, man or woman.”
