Lopez and Affleck split confirmed

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck met on the set of movie Gigli

Hollywood golden couple Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez have split up, Lopez's spokesman has said.

The announcement comes four months after Affleck, 31, and 34-year-old Lopez called off their marriage amid a worldwide media frenzy.

Lopez's New York-based publicist, Rob Shuter, said: "I am confirming the reports that Jennifer Lopez has ended her engagement to Ben Affleck."

Their two-year relationship had become the world's biggest celebrity romance.

Mr Shuter added: "At this difficult time, we ask that you respect her privacy."

Affleck's publicist, Ken Sunshine, declined to comment on the break-up.

"As always, we never ever comment on the personal lives of our clients," he said.

The couple blamed media attention for their wedding cancellation

Apparently much in love, the couple were dubbed "Bennifer" by the media, which scrutinised their every move.

They were feted like no other Hollywood couple since Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in the 1960s.

They had planned to marry at an exclusive resort near Santa Barbara, California, on 14 September, but cancelled the wedding just days beforehand blaming voracious media attention.

Some reports suggested that Lopez had moved to end the relationship after Affleck was spotted in a Canadian strip club last summer.

Rumours

But after a week of separation they met up again at Affleck's $7m (£3.8m) estate near Savannah, Georgia, pursued by the paparazzi.

They had frequently been seen there since, but more rumours about their relationship surfaced after Affleck travelled to Europe alone to promote his latest film Paycheck.

He also appeared alone at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah in the US.

The wedding would have been Pearl Harbour star Affleck's first, and a third for Lopez, whose previous marriages were brief and ended in divorce.

They had met on the set of Gigli - a commercial and critical failure - and began dating after Lopez split up with her second husband, Cris Judd, in July 2002.