Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez gush over one another during first dual interview on CNN

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and girlfriend Lauren Sanchez have given their first sit-down television interview together in which the couple gushed over one another and sung each other’s praises. 

Bezos, 58, who is the world’s fourth richest person, and Sanchez, 52, said the couple’s partnership is made stronger because they’re ‘teammates’.

‘We’re really great teammates, and we also have a lot of fun together and we love each other … We always look at each other and we’re the team,’ Sanchez said during the interview which aired on CNN.

‘It’s easy. We bring each other energy, we respect each other. So, it’s fun to work together,’ Bezos added.  

Bezos who is also the founder of spaceflight company Blue Origin says he believes everyone who wants to go into space will have the opportunity to do so during his lifetime.

‘I do [believe space travel will be attainable for everyone]. Let me give you an example. The Wright brothers flew this tiny little plane, just a couple hundred feet. And if you told the Wright brothers a hundred years from now, there’s going be a 787 that carries 400 people, they’d laugh,’ Bezos said.

Sanchez who is a former Emmy-award winning journalist, born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, also announced she is planning to go into space next year with a ‘great group of females’ accompanying her.

Sanchez has her own pilots license and founded Black Ops Aviation in 2016, the first female-owned and operated aerial film and production company.

‘I’ve also learned how to fly the helicopter,’ Bezos added. ‘And she’s a horrible backseat pilot. She’s terrible!’

‘I’ve realized that when I’m in the back of the helicopter when he’s flying, I just kind of have to look out the window, just kind of enjoy the scenery,’ Sanchez laughed. ‘I’m like, ‘No, no. Pull up. Okay. Okay, Slow down. But he’s very good.’

The couple who are normally relatively private when it comes to their relationship saw Bezos laying on the compliments thick. 

‘Lauren is the most generous, most big-hearted person that you would ever meet. So, she is an inspiration in that way. She never misses a birthday. The network of people that she gives birthday presents to is gigantic. And that’s just a small example.’

The pair also revealed what they get up to on a Saturday night joking that their evening is nothing special.

‘We can be kind of boring,’ Sanchez said laughing. ‘I would say normal. We have dinner with the kids. That’s always fun and a great conversation. There’s seven between us, so there’s a lot of discussion. And then we watch a movie … by committee. It takes a long time to find that movie.’

‘We probably spend more time picking the movie than we need to,’ Bezos added.

During the interview Bezos said he will give away the majority of his wealth during his lifetime, becoming the latest billionaire to pledge to donate much of his vast fortune.

Bezos, whose ‘real-time’ worth Forbes magazine estimates at roughly $117 billion, made the announcement during the interview. 

The billionaire didn’t specify how – or to whom – he will give away the money, but said the couple were building the ‘capacity’ to do it.

‘The hard part is figuring out how to do it in a levered way,’ Bezos said during the interview. ‘It’s not easy. Building Amazon was not easy. It took a lot of hard work and very smart teammates. And I’m finding – and Lauren’s finding – that philanthropy is very similar. It’s not easy. It’s really hard.’

Bezos had been criticized in the past for not signing the Giving Pledge, the campaign launched by Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates and Warren Buffet to encourage billionaires to donate the majority of their wealth through philanthropy.

Bezos ex-wife McKenzie Scott signed that pledge in 2019 and has since emerged as a formidable force in the world of philanthropy, showering charities throughout the country with unexpected – and often secretive – contributions. 

In the past three years, she’s given more than $12 billion to historically black colleges and universities, women’s rights group and other nonprofits.

Bezos, who divorced from Scott in 2019, stepped down as Amazon CEO last year to devote more time to philanthropy and other projects. 

Among other donations, he’s pledged $10 billion to fight climate change as part of his Bezos Earth Fund initiative. 

Last year, he gave $510.7 million to charity, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Last week Bezos awarded $100million to Dolly Parton to give children access to books globally. 

Parton, 76, became the latest recipient of the Courage and Civility award at the Bezos Awards. The recipient is given $100million to ‘direct to the charities that they see fit.’ 

The beloved singer seemed shocked when she was awarded the mammoth sum of money – adding: ‘Did you say $100million?’ 

‘I’ve always said: I try to put my money where my heart is,’ the country music legend said as she accepted her award. ‘I will do my best to do good things with this money,’ she pledged.

The couple say they wanted to bring a ‘little bit of light’ to the people who use unity instead of conflict to resolve issues.

‘We wanted to amplify their voices because the voices that are really negative seem to get amplified in this world,’ she said. ‘The work that we’re doing with the Bezos Courage and Civility Award I think needs to have a voice,’ Sánchez added during the CNN interview. 

‘And the people that we’ve chosen so far, Van Jones, Jose Andres, Dolly Parton, they all have such stories to tell. I just feel honored to be able to be a part of what they’re doing for this world.’