Jennifer Lopez and Maksim Chmerkovskiy are "pretty much" just friends.
The 44-year-old singer was rumoured to have struck up a romance with the Dancing with the Stars hunk following the end of her relationship with Casper Smart. It's been claimed the speculation was over-egged, although Maksim has now hinted there was something to it.
"With the Jennifer thing, look, we’re friends and… we’re friends. This is it. This is where it ends, pretty much," he told New York Daily News' Confidenti@l column.
It was previously claimed that the burgeoning relationship cooled as Maksim, 34, couldn't handle the intense media intrusion. Jennifer's ex was accused of cheating on her with transsexual models and as that broke around the same time as she was linked to the dancer, her love life was in the headlines.
Maksim has now seemingly confirmed there was some truth to the rumours.
"I now understand why Hollywood is such a difficult place to have a good relationship in: because there’s all these interferences. Two people have to be so strong - and notice I didn’t say ‘in love.’ They have to be in love, but trust me, there’ve been situations when two people have been really in love, and all of this gets in the way and it completely ruins it," he said.
The star has some experience of dating a celebrity, having previously romanced Sports Illustrated model Kate Upton and been engaged to his fellow Dancing with the Stars star Karina Smirnoff.
Maksim remains sure that famous faces can make relationships work, citing Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes as a couple he admires. The pair met while shooting 2012 movie The Place Beyond the Pines, and last week there was widespread shock when it was reported that she is seven months pregnant.
"Look at Eva and Ryan having a baby. I think their relationship is amazing, because it’s so quiet and nobody knows anything about it," Maksim enthused. "And so those two people are professional, they’re amazing at what they do, and they’re strong enough to be able to keep it to themselves. That’s brilliant. I envy them and I look up to couples like this.
"Look, it could be worse, right? When we get together, all my friends are like, ‘Dude, I envy you - if this is biggest problem you have in life, good for you.'”
