Fiancée of Amazon boss who owns a $500m yacht says her life’s ‘regular’
When most entrepreneurs are anointed as billionaires, a super-car or three is on the high of their procuring listing.
Not so for Jeff Bezos. He marked his official billionaire standing — attained in 1999 after Amazon went public on the inventory market and was valued at $10.1 billion — by upgrading his battered outdated Chevy to a relatively modest Honda Accord.
Famously frugal, Bezos by no means was once one for luxurious, even when his fortune hit the stratosphere. A Star Trek nerd, his workplace desk was made out of an outdated door raised on 4 items of wooden, symbolising his forensic dedication to monetary effectivity.
But this was all whereas he was married to his first spouse, Princeton English graduate Mackenzie Scott, whom he divorced in 2019 after 4 youngsters and 25 years of marriage.
Today — set to wed for the second time, to the cartoonishly pneumatic Lauren Sanchez, whom he is been relationship for 4 years — it is truthful to say Bezos has since leaned into his ‘grasp of the universe’ standing with some aplomb.
Since Joe Bezos began relationship Lauren Sanchez 4 years in the past, he has lent into his ‘grasp of the universe’ standing with some aplomb and begun to steer a luxurious life
Lauren Sanchez has gone from being rejected as a big-haired 18-year-old for a job as an air hostess to ‘international philanthropist’ and solely flying non-public
On Friday evening Lauren joined Prince Harry on the Living Legends of Aviation ceremony on the Beverly Hilton lodge in Los Angeles
The new Jeff — reworked right into a buff and muscled hulk — has a life that’s platinum-plated luxurious from daybreak to nightfall, which 54-year-old Lauren clearly revels in.
Her life has been reworked by Bezos. She’s gone from the utter humiliation of being rejected as a big-haired 18-year-old for a job as an air hostess — as a result of she was just a few kilos too heavy — to ‘international philanthropist’.
With billions to offer away on the tip of her artfully manicured fingernails — in addition to to spend on herself — there isn’t any doubt she’s on the high of the Hollywood tree.
Her years on TV as a fairly native newsgirl are lengthy forgotten now buddies embody different billionaires corresponding to Oprah, Kim Kardashian and media mogul Barry Diller.
On Friday evening Lauren, a certified helicopter pilot, joined Prince Harry on the Living Legends of Aviation ceremony on the Beverly Hilton lodge in Los Angeles, the place each obtained awards.
She later posted an image of herself with the Prince, and gushed about him on Instagram, calling him a part of a bunch ‘who formed the historical past and way forward for flight’.
On the agenda later this yr is an A-list Oscars social gathering, hosted by Lauren. Then there shall be her flight into area on Bezos’s very personal rocket — plus, after all, their marriage ceremony (second time spherical for each events), which is ready to be a spectacle for the ages.
One can solely marvel what her marriage ceremony robe shall be like. If her present tastes are something to go by, it might properly be sheer or maybe solely see-through.
Indeed, earlier this month Lauren was in Paris and Milan squeezing herself right into a succession of eye-popping slashed or clear attire to rejoice her fiance’s sixtieth birthday.
One relatively risque catsuit uncovered her thong-clad backside, main some U.S. commentators to say, relatively unkindly, that the glowing Lauren appeared like ‘a hooker’.
Regardless of the barbs, she and Bezos appeared really content material.
‘Look who’s turning 60! Happy birthday, child!’ Lauren wrote on Instagram.
‘Today is one other day the place your laughter fills our dwelling, and that smile of yours lights up each room. Wishing you an abundance of straightforward joys and quiet moments of happiness.’
You might be forgiven for snorting at her selection of the phrases ‘easy joys’.
Bezos, the world’s third-richest man value £137 billion, has, alongside a property empire which might make Croesus weep, constructed Koru, a $500 million (£394 million) yacht, with a busty figurehead on its prow that bears a hanging resemblance to Lauren. Along with two business plane, the Koru — the tallest yacht ever constructed — prices £39 million a yr to run. Its assist vessel alone homes 45 workers and has its personal submarine.
The mega yacht is presumably essentially the most extreme show of wealth on the planet, however nothing, it appears, is ‘an excessive amount of’ for Lauren, who delighted in spectacular exhibits of riches whilst Amazon laid off 27,000 employees in 2022-3.
And if Bezos has had ‘quiet moments of happiness’, the sparky Lauren has greater than seemingly snapped an image of it and shared it on social media.
Lauren Sanchez is a certified helicopter pilot since 2011, one thing little question impressed by her father Ray, who had been a flight teacher and a mechanic
As she reaches her mid-50s, Lauren Sanchez has by no means appeared hotter — if by ‘scorching’, you imply in a plumped-up, Kardashian form of manner
Jeff Bezos has additionally beefed up since he met Lauren Sanchez, bulking up within the health club and rising out of his beforehand weedy fame
For Lauren fizzes with pleasure at her luck, stellar connections and ‘magical’ life — doubters be damned. She instructed Vogue final yr she was so impressed she almost ‘blacked out’ when Bezos gave her a £1.9 million 20-carat pink diamond engagement ring.
Barry Diller calls her ‘a sparkler in Jeff’s life’, and provides: ‘They’re very in love with one another — they’re demonstrably in love. She’s lit him up within the nicest methods. She’s an awesome stimulant.’
And simply because the previously weedy Bezos has pumped up — she says he now trains like a ‘monster’ — Lauren, too, seems reworked by her romance.
As she reaches her mid-50s, she’s by no means appeared hotter — if by ‘scorching’, you imply in a plumped-up, Kardashian form of manner.
Notably, her morning espresso is available in a mug which reads: ‘Woke up horny as hell once more.’
Some carp that her full-throttle magnificence owes greater than a bit of to beauty interventions. Observers observe her lips are fuller, her complexion smoother, her pores and skin ever-tauter than it was a decade in the past.
There has additionally been unkind hypothesis in regards to the form of her earlobes — apparently a giveaway signal of a facelift.
But the actual fact is Lauren’s magnificence and charisma gained Bezos over earlier than any beauty adjustments occurred, and he stays captivated.
As for her present showgirl look — the very reverse of stealth wealth — Bezos says solely: ‘It works for Jeff.’
Lauren instructed Vogue final yr: ‘I actually assume I’m coming into who I’m and I do know what feels good.’
What’s obvious from her life story is Lauren has at all times been impressively targeted on self-improvement.
Born in 1969 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, she wasn’t a lot of a scholar as a result of undiagnosed dyslexia. Aged 18, she moved to Los Angeles, hoping to turn into an air hostess at Southwest Airlines however at 8 st 9 lb, was 6lb too heavy.
She enrolled at a Californian faculty to review journalism. Thanks to a instructor who noticed her neurodiversity, she flourished, finally successful a scholarship to the University of Southern California.
She left in 1994 earlier than graduating after being supplied a job as a number on a TV station in Phoenix, Arizona. A later internship led to a job on Fox Sports in LA and a job as a neighborhood information anchor.
Her love life bounced alongside at tempo: she was stated to be engaged to sports activities broadcaster Rory Markas, earlier than relationships with NFL participant Anthony Miller and, later, NFL star Tony Gonzalez, by whom she had son Nikko in 2001 earlier than they cut up.
There was then a liaison with LA Lakers participant Derek Fisher, earlier than a minor entrée into showbusiness by way of actor Henry Simmons, star of Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D, to whom she was additionally seemingly engaged.
All this romantic restlessness lastly ended when Lauren met the leisure and media agent Patrick Whitesell, falling for him like a ton of bricks on first sight in 2004 and apparently quickly ditching Simmons.
‘I’d at all times ask my buddies: ‘How are you aware it is the appropriate one?’ she sighed. ‘Then after I met Patrick, I instructed them: ‘I so get it.’
After assembly Whitesell, her personal TV profession grew to become turbo-driven. In 2005, the yr she and Whitesell married, she landed a job as host of So You Think You Can Dance, then in its first yr.
Her marriage ceremony was on a scale to draw consideration, attended by her husband’s shoppers, together with actors Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Jessica Alba and Hugh Jackman, who sang Mack The Knife on the reception.
However, her time with So You Think You Can Dance ended when she was pregnant with son Evan in 2006. A pal remembers bosses have been glad to offer the function to Cat Deeley. Lauren’s take was that she was ousted unjustly, and even consulted high-profile lawyer Gloria Allred about authorized motion.
A TV supply stated: ‘Lauren was very sensible, clearly very enticing, not notably educated in dance, however she would ask all the appropriate questions.
‘However, Lauren wouldn’t at all times choose up on what the reply was earlier than transferring on to the subsequent query, and that looked like not listening, connecting or empathising with the contestants.’
After her daughter, Ella, was born in 2008, Lauren returned to work in tv, internet hosting the leisure present Extra, after which a neighborhood LA morning information present from 2011-2017.
Jeff Bezos formally cut up from his first spouse in January 2019, whereas Lauren additionally cut up from her husband after 14 years. They first met just a few years earlier
Sanchez says their lives are ‘fairly regular’, although it’s seemingly on an order of luxurious higher than many may even think about
Lauren and Bezos even have philanthropic ventures, and current the Bezos Award for Courage and Civility, the place a £78 million grant is given to charities
Through these years there was at all times loads of power for her household. Son Nikko remembers his extrovert mum would attend his highschool soccer video games in self-made outfits together with his quantity on it, ringing a cowbell and cheering. ‘There was not a single yr she wasn’t the ‘crew mum’,’ he stated.
Her qualification as a helicopter pilot got here in 2011, little question impressed by her father, Ray, having been a flight teacher and a mechanic.
Ever resourceful, Lauren noticed a business alternative in her pastime in 2016 when she fashioned Black Ops Aviation, specialising in aerial filming.
Through her new gig, and maybe with connections she made by way of her agent husband, Lauren consulted on Christopher Nolan’s movie Dunkirk.
By this time, she had met Bezos. Her husband represented the actress Michelle Williams — star of the 2016 Amazon-distributed movie Manchester By The Sea — and he and Bezos apparently labored intently collectively.
At some level, a plan took form for her and Bezos to work collectively on a documentary about his area undertaking, Blue Origin.
Described within the tabloids as ‘the $50 million alibi’, it was throughout its filming that the 2 loved an eight-month affair.
The National Enquirer journal trailed the lovers throughout 5 states and 40,000 miles as they loved non-public jets, helicopter rides, romantic hikes and five-star lodge hideaways.
There have been experiences of red-hot texts and photos shared between them. After such revelations, in January 2019 Bezos introduced the top of his marriage to Mackenzie. Lauren additionally formally cut up from Whitesell after 14 years.
Home for Lauren at the moment is a Beverly Hills mansion, purchased by Bezos for $165 million (£130 milion) in 2020. There are additionally properties in Washington — the place Bezos owns the Washington Post — Miami, and an enormous ranch in Texas.
Sanchez says their lives are ‘fairly regular’ and ‘principally revolve across the youngsters’. The couple share a private coach and luxuriate in understanding collectively.
Inevitably, contemplating her newly acquired wealth, work has turn into targeted on ardour initiatives. Her manufacturing firm, Adventure & Fellowship, is hoping to develop documentaries and options.
Last summer season, there was a strife-filled 20-day shoot on a micro-budget movie, The Golden Door, which included a cameo function for Bezos’s daughter.
It’s unclear if the movie shall be launched: director Kellie Madison left the undertaking, and there have been experiences Sanchez, a producer, was grand on set, riling her friends.
Her individuals supplied the priceless response to criticism: ‘She was concerned — she even introduced her personal jewelry for the actors to put on on movie.’
Lauren can also be writing a youngsters’s e-book, The Fly That Flew, which was promised final yr however by no means materialised. There are already a number of books which share both its title or its idea — a fly going into area — which can account for the delay.
Still, nothing deters Sanchez — who’s both a ‘striver’ who could be a ache, or a constructive ‘power’, relying who you communicate to.
Philanthropy is an everyday diversion: she and Bezos current the Bezos Award for Courage and Civility, the place a £78 million grant is given to charities. Sanchez can also be vice chair of the Bezos Earth Fund, which intends to spend £7.8 billion to attempt to resolve the local weather disaster, in addition to being concerned within the Day 1 Families Fund, for homeless households, and the Bezos Academy, which supplies free pre-school schooling.
She stated final yr: ‘Right now, I’m immersing myself in philanthropy and strategic giving. I’ve at all times had a profession very separate from my associate. I feel now that I can work with my associate and be with him on a regular basis . . .
‘We like to be collectively and we like to work collectively. He’s serving to me with the e-book. He’s getting his pilot’s licence. We fly collectively. We work out collectively. We’re collectively on a regular basis. Living with Jeff is like having a grasp class on daily basis.’
And so, one may also conclude, resides with Lauren.
