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Meet Lauren Sánchez, Jeff Bezos' fiancée who's a helicopter pilot and former news anchor

Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez laugh while standing on red carpet against black backdrop
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez got engaged in 2023.

Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

  • Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is engaged to Lauren Sánchez, a former news anchor.
  • Sánchez, 55, is a helicopter pilot and entrepreneur as well as a former actor.
  • She's also the vice chair of the Bezos Earth Fund.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos went to space with his rocket company, Blue Origin, four years ago. Now, it's his fiancée's turn.

Lauren Sánchez, a former journalist and licensed pilot herself, will head to space this spring to lead Blue Origin's all-woman crew that also includes "CBS Mornings" cohost Gayle King, pop star Katy Perry, Nobel Peace Prize nominee Amanda Nguyen, former NASA scientist Aisha Bowe, and film producer Kerianne Flynn.

Here's a look at Sánchez's life and career:

Lauren Sánchez had a long career as a reporter and news anchor.
Lauren Sanchez speaks at the IWMF Courage in Journalism Awards on October 23.
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez at the IWMF Courage in Journalism Awards.

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for IWMF

Sánchez grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and studied broadcast journalism at the University of Southern California. She started her journalistic career as an intern on the Los Angeles station Channel 13 during college, according to a 2017 interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

She began anchoring UPN News 13 on Los Angeles' KCOP in 1999, winning a Los Angeles Area Emmy award for her work on the show in 2001, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Sánchez went on to work as a host at various news channels before landing at Fox 11's "Good Day LA" in 2003, where she worked for six years. She then became a weekend anchor and special correspondent on "Extra" in 2009.

She's even played a news anchor in several movies and TV shows.
Lauren Sanchez in 2010.
Lauren Sánchez at the Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2010.

Larry Busacca/Getty Images

In addition to once being an anchor in real life, Sánchez has starred as a news anchor in movies including "Fight Club," "The Day After Tomorrow," and "The Fantastic Four."

She's a licensed plane and helicopter pilot.
Lauren Sanchez
Lauren Sánchez is a licensed pilot.

Stefanie Keenan/WireImage

Sánchez learned how to fly while working as a news anchor and she started flying planes in 2011 before getting her helicopter pilot's license in 2016.

Her interest in aviation seems to have been sparked at an early age, as her father was a flight instructor and mechanic who rebuilt planes.

"I was always in the hangar growing up but knew nothing about flying," she told The Hollywood Reporter.

She founded her own aerial filming company.
Lauren Sanchez wears a cowboy hat
Lauren Sánchez started Black Ops Aviation.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Sánchez founded Black Ops Aviation in 2016, a "female owned and operated" aerial filming company, which has shot footage for Amazon, Netflix, and Fox, among others.

Sánchez also lent her aerial-filming knowledge to Christopher Nolan as a consultant on "Dunkirk."

She used to host a dancing reality show.
Competitors on "So You Think You Can Dance."
Competitors on "So You Think You Can Dance."

Jason Merritt/FilmMagic/Getty Images

Sánchez was a host on the first season of Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance" in 2005, but she left the show after one season.

Sánchez was married to Hollywood agent Patrick Whitesell for 13 years.
Patrick Whitesell and Lauren Sanchez in 2011.
Patrick Whitesell and Lauren Sánchez in 2011.

Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

Whitesell is co-CEO of the Hollywood agency WME, and his clients include Matt Damon, Christian Bale, and Hugh Jackman. Whitesell and Sánchez married in 2005 and separated in the fall of 2018.

They finalized their divorce in October 2019 with shared custody of their two children, People magazine reported.

Sánchez also has a son from her previous relationship with NFL star Tony Gonzalez.

Sánchez and Bezos got engaged four years after going public with their relationship.
jeff bezos lauren sanchez
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez.

Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

Bezos and Sánchez first connected at a 2016 Amazon Studios party for the film "Manchester by the Sea," according to Brad Stone's book, "Amazon Unbound."

Their relationship "blossomed" during helicopter rides in 2018, when Bezos hired Sánchez's company to film footage for his rocket company, Blue Origin, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Their relationship came to light in a 2019 tabloid scandal, and the couple went public shortly after Bezos and his now-ex-wife, author and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, announced their divorce in 2019 following 25 years of marriage.

In May 2023, CNN reported that Sánchez and Bezos had gotten engaged, citing a source close to the couple. Sanchez was also photographed with a large diamond ring on her left ring finger while onboard Bezos' $500 million megayacht.

In Vogue's December 2023 issue, Sánchez revealed that Bezos proposed on his yacht, Koru.

"When he opened the box, I think I blacked out a bit," she said.

While Sánchez and Bezos have often been spotted cruising on his yacht or attending high-profile events, including President Trump's inauguration, Sánchez says they also have more mundane days at home.

"On a typical Saturday, we hang out, we have dinner with the kids, which is always fun because you never know where the conversation is going to go with this many kids," Sanchez told The Wall Street Journal in 2023. "We are the Brady Bunch!"

She's the vice chair of the Bezos Earth Fund.
Senator Chris Coons, Lauren Sánchez, and Jeff Bezos attend the ICCF U.S. Congressional International Conservation Leadership Awards Dinner
Sen. Chris Coons, Lauren Sanchez, and Jeff Bezos attend the ICCF US Congressional International Conservation Leadership Awards Dinner.

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Bezos Earth Fund

In 2020, Bezos announced that he would commit $10 billion — about 7.7% of his net worth at the time — to fighting the climate crisis as part of an initiative called the Bezos Earth Fund. Sánchez serves as the organization's vice chair.

She's a children's book author.
Lauren Sanchez at the Met Gala.
Lauren Sánchez at the Met Gala.

Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

Sánchez's first picture book, "The Fly Who Flew to Space,"is scheduled for a September release.

She's talked about how her own struggles with dyslexia were part of the inspiration for her writing the book. Celebrities such as Katy Perry, Kim Kardashian, and Karlie Kloss have endorsed the book, with Kloss writing that the "story sparks curiosity and imagination while introducing young minds to the magic of STEM!"

Next up for Sánchez is a trip to space.
6-woman crew flying to space with Blue Origin
The crew includes Katy Perry, Gayle King, Aisha Bowe, Kerianne Flynn, Amanda Nguyen, and Lauren Sanchez.

Blue Origin

She's leading a six-person all-woman crew on a Blue Origin spaceflight in 2025.

The 11-minute journey will take them past the Kármán line, which is the internationally recognized boundary of space. Blue Origin says this will be the first all-female flight crew since Valentina Tereshkova's flight to space in 1963.

Read the original article on Business Insider

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