Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez not breaking up, but 'working through some things'

The couple, who have been dating for four years, put out a statement after rumours of a split began circulating on Friday

(FILES) In this file photo taken on August 20, 2018 US singer Jennifer Lopez (L) and former US baseball player Alex Rodriguez attend the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.  Singer Jennifer Lopez and former New York Yankees baseball star Alex Rodriguez said Saturday, March 13, they were "working through some things", but called reports they had broken up "inaccurate". / AFP / ANGELA WEISS
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Jennifer Lopez and fiance Alex Rodriguez are putting up a united front after rumours began to spread that the couple have called off their engagement. The pop star and former baseball player, who got engaged in 2019, released a statement saying they were “working through some things”.

“All the reports are inaccurate,” the couple, popularly known as J-Rod, said.

(FILES) In this file photo taken on June 3, 2019 CFDA Fashion Icon Award recipient US singer Jennifer Lopez and fiance former baseball pro Alex Rodriguez arrive for the 2019 CFDA fashion awards at the Brooklyn Museum in New York City.   Singer Jennifer Lopez and former New York Yankees baseball star Alex Rodriguez said Saturday, March 13, they were "working through some things", but called reports they had broken up "inaccurate". / AFP / ANGELA WEISS
Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez at the 2019 CFDA fashion awards in New York. AFP

On Friday, celebrity news websites including TMZ and New York Post's Page Six reported that Lopez, 51, and Rodriguez, 45, had split.

"This has been a long time coming," one source was quoted by People magazine as saying. "They are tied in their business worlds, so it's not a cut and dry break up. It's taken a while for them to even think about untangling it all."

The couple were last seen together on March 1 in the Dominican Republic, where Lopez is filming Shotgun Wedding, a comedy-action film also starring Josh Duhamel.

After the couple, who began dating in 2017, released the statement denying a break up on Saturday, a source told People magazine the pair did talk about splitting, but that they have decided to work it out.

"They hit a rough patch," the source said, adding that rumours linking [Rodriguez] with a TV reality show star "had no bearing on the rough patch at all.”

"She's working in the Dominican Republic and he's in Miami, so it's tough seeing each other especially with quarantining and Covid," the source told People.

Lopez, who performed at US President Joe Biden's inauguration in January, said late last year the couple had postponed their wedding twice because of the pandemic.

"We had planned what we really, really wanted to do, [but] I don't know if we'll be able to recreate that," Lopez told Elle magazine in January. "We cancelled it, and since then we haven't really talked about it. There's no rush. We want to do it right when we can do it."

With additional reporting by Reuters