Sparks flew in November when they met, they became romantically involved just recently

Jun 12, 2014 07:59 GMT  ·  By
Jennifer Lopez and Maksim Chmerkovskiy met while preparing for the Celia Cruz tribute at the AMAs 2013
   Jennifer Lopez and Maksim Chmerkovskiy met while preparing for the Celia Cruz tribute at the AMAs 2013

Even if all those rumors that Casper Smart cheated on Jennifer Lopez with two transgender models were true and the reason for their recent breakup, it doesn’t look like she’s planning on spending too much time crying over him in an ice cream tub.

Regardless of the reason cited for the breakup after 2 years of dating, Jennifer has already set her sights on another man and, as it so happens, he’s a dancer as well. However, unlike Casper at the time she became involved with him, this one is more famous and, some would argue, more handsome.

His name is Maksim Chmerkovskiy (Maks, for fans) and he’s one of the dancing pros on ABC’s hit series Dancing With the Stars. He’s tall and dark and brooding and ripped, and he has excellent moves on the dancefloor. He’s also very opinionated and motivated so, in short, we can totally understand how come JLo fell for him.

The two met in late 2013, when they started rehearsing for Jennifer’s performance at the 2013 American Music Awards, where she performed a Celia Cruz tribute. Maks was part of the troupe of dancers and, as you can see in the photo above, had the difficult task (as per his own words) to lift Jennifer above his head at the end of the performance – and to hold that pose for a few seconds.

He called it “the most stressful 4 seconds of [his] life!” but, according to NY Daily News’ Confidenti@al column, it wasn’t all that bad: besides having the chance of sharing the stage and the limelight with one of the biggest divas of our times, he also had the opportunity of charming the pants off her.

Which is exactly what he did, by the way. “It’s really new,” an insider reveals for the publication, saying that while “there might have been sparks between the pair then, nothing happened because JLo was in a relationship with Smart at the time.”

Maks too was unavailable because he was dating Sports Illustrated model Kate Upton, so neither could act on whatever chemistry they shared.

Speaking of which, there was plenty of that, another source chimes in. “You saw [their chemistry] at the AMAs?,” says the spy, adding, “things heated up this spring.” Apparently, in late March, Jennifer and Maks were spotted out for dinner, acting as if they were more than friends and definitely more than just casual acquaintances.

If they became an item in late March, this would confirm ongoing reports that Jennifer and Smart had actually cooled off for some time before they announced the breakup and that, for some months, they were only together because they were trying to see if it still made sense to be together. Clearly, Jennifer thought it didn’t, because she’d been seeing Maks all along.

The insiders claim that, for the time being, this hot new couple is forced to put the romance aside because of work commitments: she is in Brazil and will be then busy promoting her new album, while he is in India to host the local version of DWTS.

In case you missed the performance that started it all, the Celia Cruz tribute, here it is, enjoy!