It’s the marriage of the yr — and she or he’s the bride. Lauren Sánchez, a former journalist, is ready to marry Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in a marriage ceremony in Venice, Italy, this week. The nuptials, which have sparked protests from teams sad with what they see as a blatant show of revenue inequality within the floating metropolis, have additionally introduced visitors like Kim Kardashian and Tom Brady — lots of whom rely Sánchez as a private good friend.

However who’s Sánchez, and when did she grow to be the following Mrs. Jeff Bezos? Let’s dive in.

Born in New Mexico and raised in California

Sánchez, who’s a third-generation Mexican American, was born in New Mexico in 1969. In response to CNN, she attended El Camino Faculty in California earlier than transferring to the College of Southern California, the place she studied communications.

Sánchez initially struggled in school on account of her then-undiagnosed dyslexia. In a 2024 Instagram submit, she shared {that a} professor “modified the trajectory” of her life by getting her examined for it. “Nothing was the identical after that — I discovered find out how to study — and I’m endlessly grateful,” she wrote in honor of World Ebook Day.

After her analysis, Sánchez instructed Elle, she “​​went from barely getting Cs in a group school, to incomes a 3.8 GPA, to then going to the College of Southern California and changing into a journalist.”

She’s labored in journalism — and helicopters

Sánchez started her broadcasting profession as a desk assistant at KCOP-TV in Los Angeles, per USA Right this moment, earlier than transferring on to her first on-air reporting job at KTVK-TV in Phoenix. She later labored as a reporter for Further and held a number of roles at Fox Sports activities Web.

In 1999, she auditioned for a spot on The View. In a January 2023 interview with WSJ Journal, Sánchez mentioned that studying she had not gotten a spot on the discuss present (the function went to Lisa Ling) was “one of the vital devastating days” of her life.

She went on to cohost Good Day L.A. in 2003, and had a stint because the host of the primary season of So You Suppose You Can Dance in 2005, earlier than taking a step again from internet hosting to concentrate on her household.

In 2014, she shifted to producing, cofounding Pursuit Productions with Dan Friedkin and growing initiatives like a World Battle II documentary concerning the Battle of Tarawa.

Sánchez made one other main pivot in 2016, when she based Black Ops Aviation, an aerial movie and manufacturing firm. Sánchez, who turned a licensed pilot (following within the footsteps of her father, a flight teacher), labored with administrators like Christopher Nolan and Catherine Hardwicke, per the Hollywood Reporter.

“I had my job, I had a profession, after which I discovered a calling,” she instructed THR in 2017. “I liked leisure and I liked filming, and so I acquired to mix all of it.”

Her ardour for flying additionally impressed her to write down a kids’s ebook known as The Fly Who Flew to Area. It was revealed in English and Spanish in 2024.

In an interview with Right this moment in 2024, she shared, “I by no means thought at 54 — I’m going to be 55 — that I’d be an creator, that I’d be getting married. I imply, life is simply starting.”

Sánchez has additionally turned her consideration towards philanthropic causes, working with organizations like This Is About Humanity, which helps separated and reunified households on the U.S.-Mexico border.

She’s been married earlier than

Previous to going public along with her relationship with Bezos in 2019, Sánchez was in two high-profile relationships.

Within the early 2000s, Sánchez dated NFL star Tony Gonzalez. The 2 by no means married, and share a son, Nikko, born in 2001. Sánchez and Gonzalez are on superb phrases after their break up — his spouse, October Gonzalez, even attended Sánchez’s bachelorette journey to Paris in Could.

“Tony and his spouse [October “Tobie” Gonzalez] are my finest associates,” she instructed WSJ Journal in 2023. “It wasn’t all the time that manner. There was friction [at the beginning]. However Tony and Tobie had been at Thanksgiving with us [this year], and we’re actually good associates.”

In 2005, Sánchez married Patrick Whitesell, the chief chairman of media and leisure company Endeavor. The previous couple share kids Evan, 19, and Ella, 17. Although Sánchez and Whitesell didn’t formally divorce till 2019, Individuals reported that the 2 had been “on and off” for a while and separated when she and Bezos started seeing each other.

How she met Bezos

It was Whitesell who reportedly launched Sánchez to Bezos through the premiere of the movie Manchester by the Sea in 2016, although Sánchez and Bezos didn’t reconnect once more till 2018, when the Amazon founder employed Black Ops Aviation to work on a movie about his house firm Blue Origin.

In a 2023 interview with Vogue, Sánchez mentioned she was “trying ahead to being Mrs. Bezos,” confirming she would take her soon-to-be husband’s final identify. And the next yr she instructed Further that Bezos was “superb.”

“I get to spend the remainder of my life with him and he loves my children,” she gushed. “And that’s actually what I’m trying ahead to.”