Wednesday, Dec 18, 2024

Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez are reportedly engaged — here's a look inside their family

Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez are reportedly now engaged. Here's a look at their family.
  • Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his longtime girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez, are reportedly now engaged.
  • Bezos has four kids with such low profiles that some of their names aren't publicly known.
  • Sanchez has three children of her own — two with her ex-husband, and her oldest with another ex.

Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez reportedly got engaged this month after years of dating, a union that would bring their respective families even closer together.

Sanchez has said in interviews that she and Bezos are "together all the time," according to a Wall Street Journal profile in January. A former news host who became a helicopter pilot, Sanchez said that she shares many common interests with Bezos, who, in addition to founding Amazon, also founded the aerospace company Blue Origin. "We fly together. We work out together," she told the WSJ.

Both have children from prior relationships. Bezos and ex-wife MacKenzie Scott have four children, though their identities have been mostly secretive, Gawker previously reported. Meanwhile, Sanchez has three children of her own.

At the time of their divorce in 2019, Bezos and Scott both said they plan to coparent their children. Bezos wrote on Twitter that he and Scott have "had such a great life together as a married couple, and we also see wonderful futures ahead, as parents, friends, partners in ventures and projects, and as individuals pursuing ventures and adventures."

After the divorce was finalized, Scott tweeted, "Grateful to have finished the process of dissolving my marriage with Jeff with support from each other and everyone who reached out to us in kindness, and looking forward to next phase as co-parents and friends."

Representatives for Jeff Bezos and the Bezos Earth Fund, the philanthropic effort where Sanchez is vice chair, did not respond to Insider's emailed requests for comment.

Sanchez and ex Tony Gonzalez, a former NFL tight end, share a son, Nikko Gonzalez, who is in his early 20s.

Lauren Sanchez and her son, Nikko Gonzalez, sitting courtside at a Lakers basketball game in 2014.
Lauren Sanchez and her oldest son, Nikko Gonzalez, in 2014.

Sanchez has maintained a friendly co-parenting relationship with her ex, Tony Gonzalez.

Sanchez, Gonzalez, and his wife October are often seen socializing together, and are so close that Gonzalez was even on Bezos' new $500 million superyacht together with the newly-engaged couple, Page Six reported.

Sanchez also has two children with her ex-husband, Patrick Whitesell, the executive chairman of Endeavor Group Holdings, which is the parent company of Hollywood talent agency WME.

patrick whitesell lauren sanchez
Lauren Sanchez and her ex-husband, Patrick Whitesell, who divorced in 2019.

Sanchez had married now ex-husband Whitesell in 2005, according to a 2017 profile in The Hollywood Reporter, which noted that her children were also learning to fly.

Their kids are 15-year-old Ella Whitesell and 16-year-old Evan Whitesell.

Patrick Whitesell and Lauren Sanchez holding their children, Evan and Ella, in 2011.
Lauren Sanchez and Patrick Whitesell, holding their children, Evan and Ella, in 2011.

Sanchez and Whitesell filed for divorce in 2019, according to People, which had also reported that the the high-profile celebrity divorce lawyer Laura Wasser advised on the end of their marriage.

Sanchez has likened her family with Bezos and his kids to "the Brady Bunch," telling the WSJ that they have dinner gatherings together and that "you never know where the conversation is going to go with this many kids."

jeff bezos lauren sanchez
Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos at the Baby2Baby Gala in 2021.

"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 earlier this year. "We are the Brady Bunch!"

Sanchez, a helicopter pilot, told the Journal she learned how to co-parent with Gonzalez, so she has "more experience" with co-parenting than Bezos might have.

"Tony and his wife [October "Tobie" Gonzalez] are my best friends. It wasn't always that way. There was friction [at the beginning]. But Tony and Tobie were at Thanksgiving with us [this year], and we're really good friends," she said.

Sanchez added to the Journal: "That took about five years, but we always communicated. I'm not saying that being best friends with your ex is the end-all be-all. But you do need to be able to communicate. I'm so proud of it. My son looks at me, and he's like, 'I'm the luckiest boy in the world because I can have Thanksgiving with both my parents and they don't have to be married.'"

Bezos shares four children with his ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott — three sons and one daughter whom the couple adopted from China.

Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie with their children at a premiere in 2016
Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Scott with their children at the premiere of Paramount Pictures' "Star Trek Beyond" in 2016.

Bezos has discussed the parenting philosophy he'd shared with Scott, saying at an event in 2017 that they let their children access knives and power tools at a young age.

Source: People

Bezos' eldest son and oldest child, Preston, is the only "public" one of his children.

Jeff Bezos and his son, Preston Bezos, attend the 2019 American Portrait Gala at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery
Jeff Bezos with his oldest child, Preston Bezos, at the American Portrait Gala in 2019.

Preston was born in 2000, which means he is either 22 or 23 now. It's likely his name comes from his father's middle name. It is unclear where Preston attended university; some reports say he attended his parents' alma mater, Princeton University.

The names and details about his brothers and sister are not well-known.

Last year, Bezos said at the premiere of Amazon's "Lord of The Rings" prequel that his son gave him some sage advice about the production — "Dad, please don't eff this up." Bezos didn't name the son, of course.

Source: People, South China Morning Post, Variety.

Bezos and Scott have one daughter they adopted from China, but it's unclear how old she is or when she was adopted.

Mackenzie Scott and Jeff Bezos
Mackenzie Scott and Jeff Bezos in 2017.

Bezos and Scott have also been known for their emphasis on different educational methods for their children, including something known as the Singapore math program.

Source: Independent, People, Vogue.

According to Scott's Vogue profile, she and Bezos intermittently homeschooled their children. She also told Vogue she rented a one-bedroom apartment close to the family's home so she could write all day before picking up the children from school.

MacKenzie Scott head shot
MacKenzie Scott at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in 2018.

"We tried all sorts of things," Scott told Vogue about schooling the children. "Including off-season travel, kitchen-science experiments, chicken incubation, Mandarin lessons, the Singapore math program, and lots of clubs and sports with other neighborhood kids."

Bezos did buy some prime real estate when he and Scott were married, including a seven-bedroom Beverly Hills mansion.

Source: Vogue

Bezos told the Economic Club of Washington, D.C. in 2018 that he likes to have breakfast with his children before they leave for school in the morning.

jeff bezos
Jeff Bezos at the Baby2Baby Gala in 2021.

On one notable occassion where he had breakfast with a business associate, Bezos ordered octopus, a choice that observers have read into for insight to his motivations and business strategy.

Source: CNBC, D Magazine.

Bezos said he tells his kids, "Whatever you do, choose something you can bring passion to."

Jeff Bezos looks on from the sidlines before kickoff between the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on September 15, 2022 in Kansas City, Missouri.
Jeff Bezos in 2022.

Bezos has kept many aspects of his personal life private, including any religious beliefs.

Source: People

Bezos also said he learned how to be a problem-solver through his grandfather, and wants his kids to do the same.

MacKenzie Scott and Jeff Bezos
MacKenzie Scott and Jeff Bezos in 2013.

Bezos said Scott told him she "would much rather have a kid with nine fingers than a resourceless kid," which he agreed is a "fantastic attitude about life."

Source: People

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By: [email protected] (Sindhu Sundar,Britney Nguyen,Sarah Jackson)
Title: Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez are reportedly engaged — here's a look inside their family
Sourced From: www.businessinsider.com/meet-the-family-of-jeff-bezos-and-lauren-sanchez
Published Date: Thu, 25 May 2023 09:32:00 +0000