Jennifer Lopez’s First Ex-Husband Recieved a $50,000 Settlement In the Divorce

Jennifer Lopez and Ojani Noa were married from 1997 until 1998. Noa left the marriage with a $50,000 settlement. He later went on to sue Lopez.

The demise of Jennifer Lopez’s marriage to Ben Affleck has dominated the news cycle in recent months. While the couple’s short-lived union and how the financials of the divorce will work is all anyone can talk about at the moment, it is not Lopez’s first time in divorce court. The Bronx-born songstress was married and divorced three times before linking back up with Affleck. Jennifer Lopez and her first husband, Ojani Noa, settled their divorce for just $50,000.

Ojani Noa, Jennifer Lopez’s first husband, left the marriage with $50,000

Jennifer Lopez and Ojani Noa met when Lopez’s star was on the rise. He was a server at a restaurant, and she was acting in one of her earliest projects. They caught each other’s eye and began chatting. They dated for about a year before Noa popped the question. Together, they planned a lavish wedding and enjoyed wedded bliss, at least for a few months.

Noa and Lopez’s marriage ended in 1998, as her career was skyrocketing. While the couple was married for less than a year when he eventually called it quits, Noa still received a settlement at the end of the marriage. The personal trainer and actor told The Daily Mail that he left the marriage in 1998 with a $50,000 settlement.

In many ways, the divorce was fairly amicable during its early years. But things soured eventually. Noa later sued Lopez. Years after that, Lopez sued Noa after he attempted to publish a tell-all about his year-long marriage to the songstress.

Why did Ojani Noa sue Jennifer Lopez?

While Jennifer Lopez and her first husband appeared to be on friendly terms after the end of their short-lived marriage, the friendship was not meant to last. Lopez opened a Latin restaurant in Pasadena and asked Noa to manage it in 2002. He agreed but was fired after six months. In 2004, Noa sued Lopez for breach of contract. He claimed she had no grounds to fire him. Reportedly, the lawsuit was settled for $125,000. Noa signed an NDA that prevented him from disparaging Lopez or discussing their marriage.

The settlement would later come back to haunt Noa. In the mid-2000s, Noa planned to publish a tell-all book about his marriage to Lopez. While Noa would traditionally be free to write about his life experiences, the settlement he agreed to following his claims of wrongful termination allegedly prevented the Cuban actor from discussing or disparaging Lopez. The book was never published. Noa was ordered to pay damages to Lopez and to hand over everything related to the book to Lopez’s legal team. Lopez shut down a mockumentary that Noa was working on, as well.