Their affair sparked tabloid headlines, a blackmail scandal and made his ex-wife one of the richest women in the world.
Now Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, is engaged to Lauren Sanchez, the helicopter pilot and former TV host who stole his heart and swoled his abs, Pvnew has learned.
The power couple turned up at the prestigious Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc on Saturday night, with Sanchez showing off her curves in a cropped silver top and a skin-tight skirt.
There was no ring on display, but the two were happy to share their news as they mingled at the Vanity Fair party with the likes of its editor, Radhika Jones, and the movie producer Ginevra Elkann, a scion of the Italian Agnelli dynasty.
Pvnew scooped everyone, including Vanity Fair, by breaking news of the engagement Monday.
We are told Bezos, 59, whose fortune was most recently estimated at $144 billion by Forbes, proposed to his longtime love, 53, as they sailed around the Mediterranean on his new $500m yacht, the Koru.
The diamond is believed to be 20 carats, a jeweler revealed to Pvnew.
When they docked at Cannes Saturday, they came ashore and left no doubts about what had happened.
One onlooker told us, “They were all over each other. I mean, they’re always affectionate, but they could not keep their hands off each other.”
Another source at the party said, “They were telling everyone they were engaged, they were so excited, they are completely in love.”
Sanchez’s outfit was eye-catching, but Bezos was more discreet. Back on the yacht, however, his ripped abs, which are a testament to his new relationship and their shared trainer, were obvious.
The couple is now believed to be planning their wedding. One source who knows them both said, “I can’t imagine it will be quiet — I think it will be a Who’s Who of people.”
Also, a who’s who of their life is the guest list on the yacht, which is making its maiden voyage.
Sanchez’s oldest son, Nikko, 21, is joined by his father, former NFL star Tony Gonzalez, and Gonzalez’s wife October, herself one of Sanchez’s BFFs.
October — nicknamed Tobie — posted a photo of herself with Sanchez and the latter’s younger sister Elena.
Their public declaration of love is a far cry from how the pair were introduced to the public eye.
Bezos and Sanchez were both still married when they embarked on a relationship, according to Sanchez’s brother Michael — more of whom later — back in 2017.
Having made his money by developing Amazon, Bezos, a dweeby tech guy, had been married to Mackenzie Scott for 25 years; they share four children.
It was in 2017 that his body transformation from skinny to ripped started to be noticed.
Meanwhile, Sanchez, a former “Good Day LA” and “Extra” host, had turned a hobby as a helicopter pilot into Black Ops Aviation, a lucrative business serving Hollywood production companies.
She was married to Hollywood uber agent Patrick Whitesell, the executive chairman of Endeavor, the parent company of WME, with whom she has two children, Ella and Evan.
The couples were longtime friends. Sanchez and Whitesell kept a second home near the Bezos’ $70 million compound in Seattle, and all four often shared meals.
The two men have worked on deals for Amazon’s film and TV ventures, including the Oscar-nominated “Manchester by the Sea” film in 2016.
Bezos and Sanchez are believed to have fallen for each other while working on a filming project for his space exploration company Blue Origin.
Michael Sanchez told Pvnew the couple was so smitten they had even visited an expensive psychic in New Mexico to get clarity on their future.
“Lauren and Jeff think they are meant to be — that it’s written in the stars,” he told Pvnew in 2019. (A friend of Sanchez’s says the claim seems unlikely.)
But whether predicted by the stars or not, the affair blew up on Jan. 9, 2019, when the National Enquirer broke the news they were cheating on their spouses and published intimate texts between them.
“I love you, alive girl. I will show you with my body, and my lips and my eyes, very soon,” he texted her.
only hours earlier, the Bezoses had announced they were divorcing, seemingly out of the blue. Around that same time, Sanchez told Whitesell the truth about her affair with Bezos.
Mackenzie walked away with a $35.6 billion settlement, the bulk of which she has vowed to give away to charity. She went on to marry Seattle science teacher Dan Jewett, though the marriage ended in September 2022.
But it was Bezos’ response to the involvement of the National Enquirer which became headline news. He published a lengthy blog accusing it of trying to “extort” him with claims of “below the belt selfies,” effectively saying that he was not ashamed.
And he floated a theory that AMI, under chairman David Pecker, was acting because of his friendship with President Donald Trump — who saw Bezos as an enemy — and may have been aided in getting the texts by the Saudi government.
In response, AMI publicly named Michael as the source of the tip and all the materials relating to the story. He has always denied it and has since been locked in litigation over the matter ever since, even trying to sue Bezos.
The bitterness continues. Last month, he tried to get his sister to give testimony, and she accused him of using the “cover of litigation” to psychologically abuse and pressure her “in the hope that she would pay him to go away”, according to court papers reported by the Daily Mail.
Since stepping down as CEO of Amazon in February 2021, Bezos has focused his efforts on conservation and his space exploration company, Blue Origin.
Sanchez works with him and both are dedicated to the Bezos Earth Fund, an initiative they launched to help fight climate change, which she co-chairs.
One source who has worked with them said, “They are cute together, there is genuine affection, there is so much misconception about their relationship, but they genuinely enjoy each other.”
Back in November, during a joint interview, Bezos told CNN he plans to give away most of his fortune in his lifetime, focusing primarily on fighting climate change and supporting others who can help improve the deep divide over social and political issues.
“The hard part is figuring out how to do it in a levered way,” he said. “It’s not easy. Building Amazon was not easy. It took a lot of hard work, a bunch of very smart teammates, hard-working teammates, and I’m finding — and I think Lauren is finding the same thing — that charity, philanthropy, is very similar.”
Sanchez added that they make “really great teammates.”
Bezos’ most public declaration of love for Sanchez emerged just before the engagement. His new yacht “Koru”, a name which is Maori for “coil” or “loop” (and refers to the unfurling of a fern frond, which symbolizes new beginnings) features a figurehead based on his fiancée.
“Happy birthday to the man of my dreams, who lights up my world with his laughter and kind heart. You have shown me that no great love is not bravely fought for,” Sanchez wrote in a loving post in honor of his birthday in January.
“I am so grateful for the memories we have made and the adventures yet to come,” she added. “Here’s to many more birthdays filled with love and laughter.”
