Their whirlwind romance began under a cloud of scandal, but now Lauren Sanchez, a former morning TV anchor with a love of flying, is set to wed Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the world’s fourth-richest person, in a Venice extravaganza.
Both were married to other people when they began secretly dating sometime before 2019.
In January of that year, Bezos and his first wife, the publicity-shy MacKenzie Scott, announced their divorce, stating their intention to continue “our shared lives as friends.”
Bezos met Scott in 1992 while they were both working at a New York hedge fund. They quit their jobs to co-found Amazon in a rented garage in Bellevue, Washington.
A month after the split, Bezos publicly accused the US tabloid the National Enquirer of blackmail in an offer to prevent the publication of salacious photos and text messages with Sanchez.
He suggested the effort was orchestrated by Saudi Arabia, whose leaders were reportedly upset with how The Washington Post — which Bezos owns — covered the murder of its reporter Jamal Khashoggi.
However, Sanchez later revealed that her brother sold the phone content to the Enquirer for a reported $200,000.
– ‘Is it hot?’ –
With his new romance flourishing, Bezos stepped down as CEO of Amazon in 2021.
Bezos, 61, stated his primary reason for pulling back was to dedicate more time and energy to Blue Origin, his space exploration company, and charity work.
He remains Amazon’s executive chairman, the retail giant’s biggest shareholder, and still holds considerable influence over the company’s direction.
Bezos and Sanchez are fixtures at Oscar parties and other celebrity haunts. Sanchez often uses Instagram to communicate, sometimes expressing her love for Bezos or her children. In 2023, they announced their engagement.
Bezos has notably changed his look during his relationship with the exuberantly dressed Sanchez, trading in the wardrobe of a scrawny tech executive for that of a style-conscious playboy with a more muscular physique.
“Is it just me, or is it hot outside?” Sanchez wrote in the caption of a 2023 Instagram post showing a shirtless Bezos in swimming trunks climbing the ladder of his $500 million mega yacht.
– ‘Changed my life’ –
Before her relationship with Bezos, Sanchez, 55, was not a nationally known figure.
A third-generation Mexican American originally from New Mexico, Sanchez has dyslexia and has made awareness of the learning disability one of her missions.
She has shared that she assumed she was “stupid” until a community college professor informed her she had the condition and was perfectly smart.
“It changed my life,” helping her win a scholarship to the University of Southern California, Sanchez told the Wall Street Journal.
She dropped out of USC to begin her TV career at a local station in Phoenix, Arizona, before working on Fox Sports and Extra, a TV tabloid-style news show in Los Angeles, which would become her home for decades.
In 1999, she narrowly missed national fame when she was turned down for a spot on “The View,” the talk show hosted by TV news legend Barbara Walters.
Sanchez instead became a familiar face to Angelenos as a co-host of a local morning news show from 2011 to 2017.
During most of those years, she was married to Hollywood super-agent Patrick Whitesell, with whom she has two children, Evan and Ella.
She also has a first son, Nikko, from a relationship with former NFL star Tony Gonzalez.
Bezos has four children with his ex-wife: a son, Preston, born in 2000, as well as two sons and one adopted daughter whose ages and names are not public.
– Women can fly –
Sanchez has a deep passion for flying. After leaving morning television, she founded a company specializing in aerial filming and served as a consultant on Christopher Nolan’s film Dunkirk.
“This space is dominated by men,” she told The Hollywood Reporter in 2017. “But there’s nothing physical about flying a helicopter… There’s no reason more women aren’t in this.”
Her passion for the skies also led her to space in April as part of an all-female flight on Blue Origin, though the 11-minute trip has been criticized as wasteful.
Among the crew were pop singer Katy Perry, who was also a guest at Sanchez’s bachelorette party in Paris last month.
The A-list guest list for the party also included Kim Kardashian, Kris Jenner, and Eva Longoria.
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