Posted Dec. 18, 2008

Jennifer Lopez has been famous long enough -- and married often enough -- to know that appearing at a high-profile event without her wedding ring is guaranteed to raise eyebrows.

(©Us Weekly)

But was her decision to hit the Los Angeles premiere of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" last week sans her 8-carat sparkler an indication that cracks are forming in her four-year marriage to Marc Anthony, who was also without his wedding band as he partied in Las Vegas a few days earlier with Eva Longoria and Russell Crowe? Or was the excessively pouty-lipped star's cleavage-heavy, rock-free outing a calculated move designed to put her back on top of the tabloids?

Whatever the motivation, it worked, with Us Weekly declaring Lopez and Anthony's union at "a breaking point."

"Marriage in crisis: The ring is off!" cries the mag's current cover. "Marc's roving eye, fights over the twins ... How his creepy control drives her to tears."

"They both didn't wear their rings on purpose," maintains a source. "Nothing Jennifer does is without purpose."

Which might be why the behemoth bauble was back on Lopez's finger Tuesday night -- just ahead of the story's release -- as she stepped out with her hollow-cheeked hubby for a suspiciously romantic and well-documented dinner at Beverly Hills eatery Luau.

The couple, who welcomed twins Max and Emme in February (and introduced them to the world in an ostentatious People spread for which they reportedly received $6 million), fed each other Kobe meatballs and shared an order of tamarind-glazed ribs in between conspicuous bouts of nuzzling, report both E! News and People.

Jennifer and Marc "looked genuinely in love," an onlooker assures the magazine, while another eyewitness helpfully relays to E!, "They snuck in smooches throughout the night."

Marc and Jennifer dine at Luau in Los Angeles on Dec. 16. (©X17Online.com)

After splitting dessert -- coconut tiramisu and chocolate lava cake, if you must know -- they left the restaurant hand-in-hand, a show of togetherness that has apparently been all too rare in recent days.

According to Us, the couple, who renewed their wedding vows in a late-night Sin City ceremony in October, "didn't sit together" and "barely spoke" during a "tense" family Thanksgiving.

The next evening, Anthony flew solo -- and supposedly flapped his gums -- at a New York hot spot. Word is, he was overheard kvetching about the missus to a captive female audience, with a mole purporting he told the ladies, "She's making me miserable."

And the mag says his ostensible misery has company. Lopez, who just signed on to star in the romantic comedy "Plan B" (despite the unfortunate morning-after-pill-themed title, it's about a single woman who gets pregnant through artificial insemination), is said to blame the crooner for her flatlining career, including the bomb that was their quickly forgotten 2007 drama, "El Cantante."

"Jennifer looked around and said, 'This is my life now? I'm a Long Island housewife?'" blabs a snitch, referring to the pair's suburban New York home base. "She hates that everything she worked for went down the tubes."

Another thing Us says she's unhappy with is her husband's micro-management, from dictating her fashion choices to monitoring her phone calls.

"He's very, very controlling of her," a "close Anthony pal" alleges to the magazine. "The skirts aren't as short. You don't see so much of that booty anymore."

(Of course, Marc has freely admitted he has wardrobe approval. "I pick out all her dresses, for the most part," he told USA Today in April 2007. "I'm the Simon Cowell of my household -- really honest.")

Also said to be in the rift mix is Lopez's BFF Leah Remini, who's a longtime pal of Anthony's, as is her husband, Angelo Pagan.

"If it was up to her, Leah would just break them up today," asserts an insider.

But Marc's rep says reports of an impending marital implosion are untrue, insisting their separate evenings out aren't a sign of trouble.

"They are doing great. [These] are fabricated stories," the mouthpiece scoffs to People. "They are together. He had a boys night out. She had a girls night out. There is nothing wrong with that."

Just two months ago, the thrice-married Lopez gushed about her belated domestic bliss, saying, "I have been in relationships that can make you doubt who you are and what you are capable of, and doubt what you deserve. It took me a bit little longer to get it right."