02-07-2025
Here's if Lauren Sanchez's Ex-Husband ‘Knew' of Her Alleged Affair With Jeff Bezos & What He Thinks of the Amazon Founder Now
Lauren Sanchez is officially Lauren Bezos. And now that she's married to one of the richest men in the world, fans are looking back on how her relationship with Jeff Bezos really started—and whether it originated from an affair unbeknownst to their respective spouses, Patrick Whitesell and MacKenzie Scott.
Sanchez and her ex-husband, talent agent Patrick Whitesell, filed for divorce in April 2019, months before news broke that Sanchez, a former Good Day L.A. co-host, and Bezos were dating. Sanchez and Whitesell reached a settlement and finalized their divorce in October 2019. According to TMZ, Sanchez and Whitesell divided their assets and properties according to a prenuptial agreement they both signed before their marriage. (Bezos, for his part, didn't sign a prenup before his marriage to his ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, in 1993, which led to Scott receiving $38 million in Amazon stock in their divorce.)
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As for why Sanchez and Whitesell divorced, a source told People in January 2019 that the former couple, who still lived in their same house for a short time following their split, had simply fallen out of love. 'Over the last two or three years, their marriage felt more like a business relationship,' the insider said. 'They both were doing their own thing.' The source added, 'She would be out and about a lot and he was never with her.'
Whitesell also seems to know Bezos. The same month news broke of Whitesell and Sanchez's divorce, the former couple were seen talking with Bezos at Amazon's Golden Globes afterparty. 'Jeff was in great spirits and having lots of fun. He had a crowd of people around him. Lauren was there but wasn't with Jeff all the time. Her husband was there, too,' the insider said.
The source also dispelled rumors that Sanchez cheated on Whitesell with Bezos, claiming that the two had been separated 'for a while' and that Whitesell knew of Bezos and Sanchez's relationship. 'Patrick and Lauren have been on and off for a while and have been separated. [Patrick] knew they were seeing each other,' the insider said.
Bezos, for his part, also denied that he cheated on his ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, with Sanchez after The National Enquirer reported that he was 'whisking his mistress off to exotic destinations on his $65 million private jet.' A lawyer for Bezos told the tabloid at the time that it was 'widely known' Bezos and Scott had been 'long separated' by the time he started seeing Sanchez.
The National Enquirer, for its part, stood by its reporting and claimed that its investigation was what led Bezos to publicly announce his divorce from Scott. 'The National Enquirer has been doggedly investigating this story for four months and the extraordinary details and evidence uncovered by our team, and presented to Mr. Bezos' representatives for comment early this week, underscores the kind of investigative reporting that the publication has long been known for,' a spokesperson for the magazine told CNN.
Brad Stone, the author of Amazon Unbound: Jeff Bezos and the Invention of a Global Empire, also maintained that Bezos had cheated on Scott with Sanchez. In the book, Stone even included an alleged conversation between Bezos and an executive at Amazon, where he seemingly confirmed his romance with Sanchez.
'Just to set the record straight, I did have a relationship with this woman,' Bezos told executives, according to an excerpt of the book published by The New York Post. 'But the story is completely wrong and out of order. MacKenzie and I have had good, healthy adult conversations about it. She is fine. The kids are fine. The media is having a field day. All of this is very distracting, so thank you for being focused on the business.'
Stone also reported that dozens of Amazon employees were 'surprised and disappointed by Bezos' affair.' 'Their infallible and righteous leader was, after all, a flawed human,' he wrote.
Bezos and Scott married in 1993 and share four children: three sons and one daughter. Their names and birthdates haven't been publicly released except for their eldest son, Preston. The couple adopted their daughter from China. Sanchez, for her part, has three kids. She shares two with Whitesell: son Evan, born in 2006, and daughter Ella, born in 2008. She also has another son, Nikko Gonzalez, from her past relationship with former NFL player Tony Gonzalez.
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