J.Lo Fondly Remembers Her First Flame

HOLLYWOOD -- Jennifer Lopez's longest relationship was not with any of her husbands or fiances. The thrice-married Lopez's first love was her most lasting to date.

"My first love was a guy in high school named David. We dated for, like, nine years -- from high school until I was about 24," recalls Lopez, who married singer Marc Anthony this past June.

Her first marriage to bartender Ojani Noa lasted 11 months. Her subsequent marriage to backup dancer Chris Judd lasted 16 months. She dated rap mogul Sean (Puffy) Combs for almost 18 months and Ben Affleck for 26 months.

"I have many memories of David because nine years is like a lifetime. We grew up together because I was barely 16 when I met him."

She recalls they met through mutual friends.

"His best friend was dating my best friend. He saw me and fell in love with me right away. I had short hair and I was a little too heavy and wore these terrible school uniforms, but he fell in love with me anyway."

The boy proved persistent -- Lopez admits she made it known she didn't find him appealing.

"He heard what I said about him and he was mad, but when we went back to school for the next year I saw him at the bus stop and thought he was kind of cute."

She told her friend -- who told his friend -- and "he liked me again so we wound up dating for almost 10 years."

Lopez has kept in touch with her puppy love because "he still lives in the neighbourhood in the Bronx where we grew up, and so does my grandmother.

"I see him whenever I go there to visit her. When we run into each other we keep in touch for a while through phone calls. He's a friend and he probably knows me better than anyone else or at least more than a lot of people do."

Lopez is starring as Richard Gere's dance instructor in the locally shot romantic comedy Shall We Dance?, which opened Friday.