J-Lo is right. Ben Affleck is the sexiest man alive

JENNIFER LOPEZ says she has known it all along - and now it's official: Hollywood star Ben Affleck is the Sexiest Man Alive. Affleck will be awarded his title tomorrow by People magazine which describes him as "tall, dark and handsome, smart and talented - and not afraid to express his love".

Pearl Harbor star Affleck announced his engagement to Lopez this month after the two had been spotted in passionate clinches in New York and Los Angeles.

The couple are reported to be planning to marry on St Valentine's Day next year and will star together in two new films, Gigli and Jersey Girl.

Lopez says she "didn't need People magazine to tell me he's the sexiest man alive". She also hits back at critics who have suggested that after her two failed marriages, their relationship might not go the distance. "The difference between me and People magazine is that he'll still be the sexiest man alive in my eyes when he's 100 years old," she says.

The magazine says Affleck, who was paid pounds 8 million for his new action thriller Daredevil, has "more than good looks". It notes his " plain old brains, that attractive but all too rare accessory of brawn and a $350,000 Bentley".

Affleck, 30, won an Oscar for Good Will Hunting in 1997, and began a two-year on and off romance with Gwyneth Paltrow. He has also been linked to Baywatch star Pamela Anderson and singer Courtney Love.

Last year he checked himself into the Promises clinic in Malibu saying he was worried that he was drinking too much.

He began his relationship with 32-year-old Lopez after the end of her 10-month marriage to dancer Cris Judd. She was married before, for 13 months, to waiter Ojani Noa. She and Affleck were first seen kissing on the beach in the Hamptons in July. They have also been spotted driving together in Affleck's Bentley convertible and staying at a pounds 6 million 11-bedroom home in Miami owned by the singer.

After much speculation, two weeks ago Lopez announced they were engaged, saying Affleck had proposed in a "traditional but also in a very spectacular way" that included a pink diamond platinum ring. He calls Lopez "a truly graceful beauty with an artist's soul" and says he is "the luckiest man alive".

Other candidates for the Sexiest Man Alive title in the magazine's latest issue are a varied bunch. They include US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, 70, Briton Simon Cowell, 42, who gained fame as the scathing judge on the US version of Pop Idol, rock star Bono, 42, lead singer of U2, and Friends star Matthew Perry, 33.

Affleck is the 16th holder of the title.

Previous winners include James Bonds Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan, Tom Cruise, George Clooney and Brad Pitt.

And here are the other candidates

Brains, brawn and a Bentley: Ben Affleck is named Sexiest Man Alive by People magazine and J-Lo, who is kissing him in the Bentley, inset: Donald Rumsfeld: ageing politician

Bono: still a rock god at 42

Simon Cowell: notorious for being scathing

Matthew Perry: a bachelor boy of 33

Copyright 2002