George Lopez Divorcing Kidney-Donating Wife

Wonderwall, Monday, September 27, 2010, 12:55pm (PDT)

By Kat Giantis

George Lopez might want to hold on tight to his organs and loosen his grip on his wallet. TMZ reports the comedian is divorcing his wife, Ann, who helped save his life in 2005 by giving him one of her kidneys.

In a statement, the couple said the decision to part ways after 17 years of marriage and one organ exchange was mutual, and they've apparently been hammering out split details "for a long time."

Still, that didn't stop them from stepping out together last Thursday for a good cause: the Padres El Contra Cancer's 25th anniversary gala in Los Angeles.

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According to TMZ, George and Ann, who are both 49, are also determined to maintain an amicable relationship for their 15-year-old daughter, Mayan. (Is donating a life-saving body part not enough of an incentive to keep things friendly? Yeesh.)

News of the breakup comes four months after the National Enquirer accused Lopez of having a "hotel romp" with a lady practicing the world's oldest profession.

George, who provided support for pal Sandra Bullock as she was going through her tabloid-topping split from Jesse James earlier this year, has repeatedly lauded Ann for her sacrifice, explaining that it made their relationship stronger.

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"When someone gives you a kidney, the last thing you're going to do is nitpick at them!" he joked to OK!.

Lopez also acknowledged to People magazine that "nothing is more important than the fact that my wife gave me a chance to live. I can't pay her back, but what I can do is make her as happy as she thought I would when we first got married."

Responded Ann, who started a charitable foundation with George after the surgery, "You don't have to pay something back done out of love."

That probably should have been the last word, but Lopez laughingly concluded with an unfortunately prescient remark: "Somebody said to me, 'God, you have to be really nice to your wife now that she's given you a kidney.' And I said, 'Not as nice as I had to be before she gave me the kidney.'"

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