Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his fiancee Lauren Sanchez are currently in Venice for their luxurious wedding bash, with new details on the ceremony emerging every day.
While the Daily Mail had earlier reported that the couple would take their vows on Friday (June 27), the publication now says that they are already married. “The marriage is fully legal and took place in America under American law,” the media outlet quoted an anonymous source as saying.
Bezos and Sanchez were spotted enjoying a water taxi ride in Venice on Thursday, TMZ reported. On the other hand, several high-profile guests have landed in the city for the wedding bash, including actor Orlando Bloom, football star Tom Brady, US President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump, Kim and Khloe Kardashian, and Kendall and Kylie Jenner.
Who is Lauren Sanchez, set to marry Jeff Bezos?
A third-generation Mexican American, Sanchez started her career working in various local newsrooms before she went on to become a reporter and later anchor for Fox Sports Net, Extra, and Good Day LA.
Sanchez was born in New Mexico in 1969, and raised in California. Speaking about her days growing up, she told The Hollywood Reporter that her family “came from nothing”. “I used to sleep in the back of my grandmother’s car when she would go clean houses,” Sanchez said.
She attended the University of Southern California where she studies journalism, and left in 1994 to pursue a career in broadcast journalism, according to BBC.
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Sanchez has three children – her son with former NFL player Tony Gonzalez was born in 2001, and a son and daughter from her marriage to Hollywood agent Patrick Whitesell.
Professional life
With her stint in journalism, Sanchez became a familiar face in the late 1990s, getting an Emmy nomination for her show on Fox Sports Net, Going Deep. She won the award in 1999 as an anchor on KCOP-TV’s UPN News 13.
Sanchez also worked as the co-host on KTTV Fox 11’s Good Day LA, and anchored the Fox 11 News at Ten, as per BBC. She initially hosted the show So You Think You Can Dance.
However, Sanchez pivoted to flying at 40, becoming a licensed helicopter pilot. She said that she had done so after taking inspiration from her father, who was a flight instructor.
She launched Black Ops Aviation in 2016, becoming the first woman to own an aerial film production company, which has provided cinematography to Netflix and Amazon.
She also undertook the 10-minute suborbital spaceflight mission alongside Katy Perry and Gayle King earlier this year aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket.
Relationship with Bezos
According to a BBC report, Sanchez reportedly met Bezos after her production company Black Ops Aviation was hired to film for Blue Origin.
Rumours of the two dating started in 2019, with Bezos announcing his divorce with MacKenzie Scott in January after being separated from his wife. A few months later, Sanchez, who too was separated from her former husband Whitesell, filed for divorce.
The couple got engaged in 2023, throwing a party at Bezos’ yacht in Italy’s Amalfi Coast.
