JLo's ex Ojani Noa and former Miss Universe Alicia Machado - the truth about their relationship

Beauty queen Alicia Machado  has very good friends in the entertainment industry. In fact some of them are so close, they’ve been her biggest supporters not only during the good times, but the difficult moments of her life too. Alicia - who according to Univision is starting treatment again this month after fighting breast cancer in 2013 - is surrounded by her loved ones as she faces life’s challenges. Among her inner circle is  Jennifer Lopez ’s ex-husband Ojani Noa. The former Miss Universe and the Cuban actor have been through thick and thin and have a close friendship and strong bond.

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Alicia and Ojani talked about their special bond during an interview in Telemundo’s Suelta la Sopa. “We have been very good friends for a long time,”  said Alicia, who won the Miss Universe crown back in 1996. JLo’s ex also talked about his dear friend. “I’ve known her for 17 years now, she is an incredible and strong person. She has gone through a lot, sentimentally speaking, and we have been there, we’ve chatted for hours!”

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The adoration they feel for each other is such, that when Alicia was asked by one of the TV program’s journalists how she would feel about having a husband like Ojani, she replied with no hesitation: “Happy, delighted.”

Neither offered exact details of how they met 17 years ago, but back then, Alicia was starring in the telenovela Mambo y Canela in Venezuela, and Ojani had been divorced from the Bronx Diva for four years by that time, and was focused on making it in the entertainment business.

Jennifer Lopez and Ojani Noa’s story

Jennifer Lopez and Ojani Noa met in Miami back in the Nineties. He was working as a waiter in a restaurant and she was a promising young actress. “She used to come to my workplace quite often, and I realized she was very beautiful,” he said during an interview with Spanish program Donde estás corazón. Jennifer and Ojani got married in 1997, but they separated after just ten months.

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It was not an easy divorce. They faced each other in court in several occasions and were involved in a legal fight for years. Jennifer’s ex-husband talk about the difficult years during a recent interview with Telemundo: “Thank God, it all belongs to the past now. I won the two lawsuits. I have never talked about it because I am at peace with it, and I am focused on my career.”