Lauren Sánchez, soon to be Mrs. Bezos, has always used men as stirrup holders – but she can gallop all by herself

Two things seem constant in Lauren Sánchez's life: her absolute will to advance; and the uninhibited way in which she uses her private life as a catalyst for her career. No wonder, she told Vogue about that May night two years ago: "I had a bit of a blackout." It must have felt as if her entire life came crashing down in a single moment, with full force.

It was, Bezos and Sánchez say, a starry night off the coast of southern France. They were dining together on the "Koru," not an island, but Jeff Bezos's sailing yacht, the largest in the world. The name is Maori and means "new beginnings." And Bezos was planning just such a thing. Before dinner, he had placed a small box under his partner's pillow. Inside, nestled on velvet, was a $2.5 million engagement ring, a 20-carat pink diamond. Lauren Sánchez's private life became a career of the highest order.

The following summer, the two blockbusters "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" would be released in theaters. After the engagement, Sánchez said in a major feature in "Vogue": "Of course, Jeff's favorite film is 'Oppenheimer.' And I love 'Barbie.' There you have us both, perfectly explained with two movies." The disparate films merged into a portmanteau: "Barbenheimer." Bezos and Sánchez, whose half-life many considered very short, also merged. And suddenly, people in America were wondering: Who is this soon-to-be Mrs. Bezos?

Sánchez was born in 1969 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her father worked in aviation, and her mother was the deputy mayor of Los Angeles. So, Sánchez doesn't come from the "bottom line," as American success stories tend to be called. But, at least geographically, from a bit further down: She describes herself as a "third-generation Mexican American."

Both parents had pilot's licenses, so the sky was always within reach for the Sánchez family. On the ground, however, things were a little different. At school, Sánchez wrote on Instagram that she felt left behind by the other children. Reading was so difficult for her that classes terrified her.

She withdrew from learning, only thriving when physical performance was required, such as as a cheerleader. Only later did one of her teachers recognize her academic deficiencies for what they truly were: dyslexia, a severe reading and spelling disorder. "After that, nothing was the same—I learned how to learn, and for that, I am forever grateful," Sánchez continued. She didn't share this personal anecdote on Instagram just for the hell of it, of course, but to promote her children's book "The Fly That Flew into Space," published in 2024. Once the advertising campaign was over, she deleted the post.

The girl with dyslexia first became an intern at a local television station in Los Angeles, later a host for national broadcasters such as Extra and Fox Sports Network. Her goal was the morning show "Good Day LA." "That's where you became famous," producer Lisa Kridos, who often worked with Sánchez, told "The Cut" magazine.

In 1999, Sánchez made the leap and became the first Latina, although she only learned Spanish as an adult in an evening class, to co-host the popular morning show.

In an interview, she later said she wasn't even aware that she was the first Hispanic woman to hold this position—she was simply looking for her own path. Later, when society had long since become more accepting of minorities, she said that her driving force in journalism had always been the fact that as a child she had never seen anyone on TV "who looked like me." Sánchez's Pippi Longstocking mentality, which is known for making the world her own, already shines through.

Former colleagues in the American media said three things about Sánchez: She immediately appeared good in front of the camera, a natural talent. She also connects with everyone. It never takes long before you hear her laughing with someone. Bezos told Vogue that his partner "almost has witchy powers. She's really very sensitive to other people." Furthermore, Sánchez had very good relationships from a very early age. First in the world of sports, later, when she changed careers, into show business.

While working as a sportscaster, Sánchez was rumored to have various relationships with successful athletes. At least one of them is confirmed: Sánchez had her son, Nikko, with American football player Tony Gonzalez in 2001. The relationship didn't last long, but their friendship has continued to this day. Both emphasize the importance of co-parenting the child, even as separated partners.

In 2005, when Sánchez was already regularly looking for interview partners for "Good Day LA," she married Patrick Whitesell, a Hollywood agent who had discovered Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, among others. And suddenly, Hollywood greats like Hugh Jackman were sitting in her studio.

In addition to his hosting jobs, including on big Fox shows like “So You Think You Can Dance,” he soon had smaller film appearances: Sánchez can be seen in “The Day After Tomorrow,” “Batman Begins,” and “Fight Club.”

Sánchez has two children with Whitesell, Evan and Ella. When Evan, the eldest, had trouble sleeping as a baby, Sánchez turned it into a TV show: The cameras rolled through her home, with the sleepless baby crying in the background and the mother talking about sleep training in the foreground. When she got her pilot's license, like her parents long before her, she combined it with a new way of presenting weather directly from a helicopter.

She later founded Black Ops Aviation, a production company for aerial photography, with which she filmed, among other things, Christopher Nolan's Oscar-winning film "Dunkirk." Her then-husband may have opened the door for her. It was evident in the cinema that her performance was also up to scratch. This was likely the case with many situations in which men in Sánchez's life took on the role of stirrup holder: They helped her into the saddle, but she could gallop herself.

In 2016, Sánchez and Whitesell attended a party for the film "Manchester by the Sea"—for which Amazon Studios had acquired the rights. This is how Jeff Bezos, then CEO of Amazon, married, rich, but deadly boring, at least to the tabloids, met Lauren Sánchez. He soon began calling her "my living girl" in amorous messages.

There was even more in these messages, sent in the spring of 2018. For example, where and how Bezos would like to kiss Sánchez. The world knows about this because the National Enquirer made the news—and thus the affair between the two still-married couples—public in early 2019. Instead of denying everything, Bezos and Sánchez announced shortly after each other that they were separating from their respective partners. Since then, they have been a very public couple.

While Bezos was once seen primarily in gray shirts and pleated trousers at economic summits, he now walks the red carpet at social events like the Met Gala, bought himself a yacht, mixes margaritas for journalists, and likes to take off his T-shirt in front of paparazzi.

Suddenly, the boring rich man gives the impression of a man with less hair, but more muscle, and more fun in his life than ever before. "Lauren is a shining light in Jeff's life," Barry Diller tells Vogue. He and his wife, Diane von Furstenberg, are among Bezos' closest friends.

Despite the good life, Bezos was still troubled by how the private messages had made their way into the public domain. Especially because the Trump-affiliated National Enquirer—it was 2019, and the two men still didn't like each other—also tried to blackmail Bezos.

The billionaire had not only sent Sánchez messages full of lust and love, but apparently also photos of his erect penis. The Enquirer threatened to publish the images if Bezos did not publicly state that the pro-Trump media's reporting against him, then an opponent of Trump, was not politically motivated. Bezos refused.

His security staff assumed that Saudi Arabia had hacked Bezos's phone in revenge for the Washington Post, which he had bought, reporting that Saudi Arabia had killed journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Even UN representatives declared that the suspicion might be justified. In the end, however, it turned out that Michael Sánchez, Lauren's older brother, had passed on the messages and images. For $200,000 and the good feeling of having done something against his opponent, Jeff Bezos, as a supporter of Trump.

A lot has happened since then. At Donald Trump's second inauguration, Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez, wearing the pink engagement diamond on their finger, sat behind the new, old US president.

A few months later, Bezos shot his fiancée, along with pop star Katy Perry and other women, to the edge of the universe for eleven minutes. Sánchez shrugged off the criticism, ridicule, and waste of resources. Once again, her Longstocking mentality came into play: the flight, she said, was no more in conflict with her philanthropic and environmental commitment than her fiancé's gigantic yacht. The yacht could also be powered by wind energy, and the rocket was the best way forward. The only thing that mattered, she said: "Jeff and I are a team. Everything is shared now."

Bezos and Sánchez now want to promise nothing less than the future in Venice. Against the wishes of the locals, who have protested vehemently against a multi-billionaire being able to simply rent their city for his wedding. One of the protesters told the Independent: "Allowing this wedding leads to the belief that a city can simply be sold to the highest bidder." Perhaps, one thinks, this isn't just true of cities.