The couple’s relationship became public in 2019 and has since drawn media attention for their shared interests, public appearances and high-profile milestones.

Here is a closer look at Sanchez’s life before and after the start of her relationship with Bezos.

She built a long career in broadcast and entertainment

Sanchez grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S., and studied broadcast journalism at the University of Southern California. She began her career as a college intern at Los Angeles’ Channel 13.

In 1999 she became an anchor at UPN News 13 on Los Angeles’ TV station KCOP, where her work earned her a Los Angeles Area Emmy Award in 2001, according to the Los Angeles Times. She later hosted several news programs before joining Fox 11’s “Good Day LA” in 2003 and working for six years.

In 2005 Sanchez became the first host of the dance competition “So You Think You Can Dance” but stepped down after one season to have her second child, People magazine reported. She also made cameo appearances as a news anchor in films such as “Fight Club,” “The Day After Tomorrow” and “The Fantastic Four,” according to financial news site Business Insider.

Jeff Bezos and fiancée Lauren Sanchez. Photo from X

She became a pilot

In addition to her work in journalism, Sanchez is a licensed pilot who also specializes in aerial cinematography. She earned her helicopter stripes in June 2016 and went on to found Black Ops Aviation, a “female owned and operated” aerial filming company that has produced content for Amazon, Netflix and Fox.

“I had my job, I had a career, and then I found a calling,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “I loved entertainment and I loved filming, and so I got to combine all of it.”

Her passion for aviation stems from childhood. Her father was a flight instructor and airplane mechanic who rebuilt planes. “I was always in the hangar growing up but knew nothing about flying,” she said. She even worked as a consultant on Christopher Nolan’s 2017 war film “Dunkirk.”

She led the first all-female Blue Origin spaceflight

On April 14, 2025, Sanchez led an all-female crew aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard capsule from the U.S., marking the first such mission since 1963, according to the company, following Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova’s solo spaceflight that year.

The flight lasted about 11 minutes and included a brief period of weightlessness before returning to Earth, according to a livestream by Blue Origin, the space company founded by Bezos. On board were also pop star Katy Perry, CBS host Gayle King, Nobel Peace Prize nominee Amanda Nguyen, former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, and film producer Kerianne Flynn.

Sanchez told Elle magazine that she handpicked the team because each woman was a “storyteller in their own right.” “They’re going to go up to space and be able to spread what they felt in different ways.”

She and Bezos grew close at work, went public shortly after divorces

Bezos and Sanchez went public with their relationship in 2019 after Bezos announced his divorce from MacKenzie Scott, his wife of 25 years. At the time Sanchez was also in the process of divorcing Patrick Whitesell, her husband of 13 years and one of Hollywood’s most influential agents.

She had previously been photographed with Bezos in 2016 at a holiday party for “Manchester by the Sea,” a film produced by Matt Damon, one of Whitesell’s clients, and distributed by Amazon. Whitesell was aware of the romance between the pair. “Patrick and Lauren have been on and off for a while and have been separated. [Patrick] knew they were seeing each other,” a source told People magazine.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the relationship “blossomed” during helicopter rides in 2018 when Bezos hired Sanchez’s aerial filming company to produce footage for Blue Origin.

Jeff Bezos’ fiancee Lauren Sanchez ( far left) and her all-female crew of the Blue Origin’s spaceflight on April 14, 2025. Photo courtesy of Blue Origin

She got engaged aboard Bezos’ $500M yacht

In May 202 Sanchez was photographed wearing a large diamond ring on her left ring finger, reportedly worth $3–5 million, while aboard Bezos’ $500 million mega yacht, the Koru.

In the December 2023 issue of Vogue, Sanchez revealed that Bezos proposed on the yacht. “When he opened the box, I think I blacked out a bit.”

While the couple is often seen attending high-profile events or cruising on the yacht, Sanchez their home life is grounded in family routines. “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.”

She made headlines at Trump’s 2025 inauguration

On Jan. 20, 2025, the couple attended Donald Trump’s second inauguration ceremony inside the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. They were seated next to Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.

Sanchez made headlines for wearing a tailored blazer over a lace corset featuring floral detailing. A video that went viral on X appeared to show Zuckerberg glancing at her chest, sparking wide debate online.

Christine Quinn, star of Netflix’s Selling Sunset, commented on the clip: “And as for our favorite Lizardman, Mark Zuckerberg—his cold, dead eyes were locked on her cleavage like he was trying to program his next algorithm off it,” she said.

American commentator Megyn Kelly targeted Sanchez for her outfit.

She accused the billionaire’s fiancée of dressing “like a hooker,” adding: “No one should be talking about your tits, sorry, they should be talking about the inauguration.”

She will marry Bezos in Venice

The couple is set to marry in Venice, Italy, with a three-day celebration from June 24 to 26. The event will cost $10 million and is being organized by the same planners who coordinated U.S. actor George Clooney’s 2014 wedding in the city, celebrity news site Page Six reported.

The couple has reportedly reserved five luxury hotels and all of Venice’s water taxis for the event. A-list celebrities, politicians and business figures, including Kim Kardashian, Bill Gates, and Ivanka Trump, are expected to attend.