LOS ANGELES, Dec 23 (AFP) - Hollywood diva Jennifer Lopez has been sued by an ex-husband who claims she "lured" him into a job as a manager of her restaurant and then unceremoniously sacked him.
The actress and singer`s first husband, Ojani Noa, who was married to her for one year from 1997, filed the suit against "J-Lo" in Los Angeles Superior Court Wednesday, according to documents seen Thursday.
Noa, who met Lopez when he was working as a waiter in a Miami restaurant, remained friends with her following their divorce and she appointed him to run her Los Angeles-area restaurant when it opened in 2002.
But the spurned ex claimed that the superstar breached his employment contract by sacking him as manager of the popular eatery "Madres" just six months after its opening.
In his lawsuit, Noa alleged that after initially offering him the job and then withdrawing the offer, J-Lo promised him she would not take away his 1,000-dollars-a-week job "without good cause or reason."
Noa claimed that Lopez -- who since divorcing him has married and divorced dancer Cris Judd, and was famously engaged to movie star Ben Affleck and then married singer Marc Anthony in June -- insisted that he was "family" and that she would take care of him.
J-Lo`s assurances persuaded him to leave his job as manager of a popular Los Angeles night spot to work for his ex-wife, the suit filed late Tuesday said.
Noa claims in the suit, in which he is seeking unspecified damages from the super-wealthy entertainer, that Lopez then reneged on her promise when he was fired after less than six months of managing the restaurant.
"Mr. Noa tried to call Ms. Lopez to find out what prompted this sudden change of events. His calls went unreturned," the complaint stated.
"She didn`t even have the decency to explain why she had lied to lure him to accept a job that she did not plan on letting him keep in the first place," the suit added.
Lopez`s representatives could not be reached for comment on the souring of the singer-actress`s once friendly ties with her first husband.
12/23/2004 19:15 GMT - AFP