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Before Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez found love and became one of the world’s most talked-about couples, the Amazon founder and his soon-to-be bride each navigated their respective relationships — and their downfalls — over the past three decades in various ways.
From friendly exes who co-parent to highly publicized — and expensive — divorces, both Bezos and Sánchez’s lengthy relationship history proved to pave the way to what would become a fairytale romance for the ages.
Though it’s likely most of their exes won’t be attending their lavish Italian wedding, Sanchez’s ex-boyfriend and former Kansas City Chiefs player, Tony Gonzalez, is on deck to support the couple’s nuptials.
JEFF BEZOS AND LAUREN SÁNCHEZ ARRIVE IN VENICE AS WEDDING FESTIVITIES BEGIN
Former Kansas City Chiefs player and Lauren Sánchez’s ex-boyfriend, Tony Gonzalez, is expected to attend the couple’s Italian wedding. (Backgrid US; Getty Images)
According to People, Gonzalez and his wife, October, will be attending the wedding festivities in Venice this week. Gonzalez and Sánchez share one son, Nikko, together.
Sánchez and Gonzalez’s wife October are “super close,” the source said. October attended Sánchez’s bachelorette party in May.
Here’s a look at the couple’s past romantic relationships that helped pave their way to each other.
MacKenzie Scott
Bezos and Scott, here in 2010, married in 1993. (Matthew Staver/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Scott and Bezos wed in 1993 and share four children together.
In 2019, the duo announced their divorce after 25 years of marriage. They settled shortly after.
The couple, pictured here in 2018, settled their divorce in 2019. Bezos didn’t have a prenup with Scott, and the separation left her with a 4% stake in the online shopping giant, or around $36 billion at the time. (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
“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,” MacKenzie wrote in her first tweet. “Happy to be giving him all of my interests in the Washington Post, Blue Origin, and 75 [percent] of our Amazon stock plus voting control of my shares to support his continued contributions with the teams of these incredible companies. Excited about my own plans. Grateful for the past as I look forward to what comes next.”
Bezos responded with a tweet of his own, thanking MacKenzie for her “support and kindness in this process.”
“I’m so grateful to all my friends and family for reaching out with encouragement and love. It means more than you know. MacKenzie most of all. I’m grateful for her support and for her kindness in this process and am very much looking forward to our new relationship as friends and co-parents.”
“In all our work together, MacKenzie’s abilities have been on full display. She has been an extraordinary partner, ally, and mother. She is resourceful and brilliant and loving, and as our futures unroll, I know I’ll always be learning from her,” he concluded.
Bezos didn’t have a prenup with Scott, and the separation left her with a 4% stake in the online shopping giant, or around $36 billion at the time.
“Bezos handled his first divorce as fast as an Amazon delivery,” Christopher Melcher, an attorney and partner at Walzer Melcher & Yoda LLP, told Fox News Digital of Bezos’ first marriage. “It was quick but not painless. Billions of dollars were at stake, which were earned during marriage and had to be split because there was no premarital agreement.”
Tony Gonzalez
Former Kansas City Chiefs player, Tony Gonzalez, shares one son with Lauren Sánchez. (Aaron M. Sprecher/Getty Images)
Gonzalez and Sánchez began dating in 2000. They welcomed a son, Nikko Gonzalez, in February 2001.
The pair called it quits in 2002, but have remained on good terms in the years following.
Gonazelez, who has been married to his wife October since 2007, and Sánchez celebrated their son’s graduation as a blended family in 2024.
Tony Gonzalez, October Gonzalez, Lauren Sánchez and Jeff Bezos all celebrated Nikko’s graduation in 2024. (Lauren Sánchez Instagram)
Sánchez previously opened up about her relationship with Gonzalez in a 2023 interview with The Wall Street Journal.
“It wasn’t always that way. There was friction [at the beginning]. But Tony and [his wife October] were at Thanksgiving with us [this year], and we’re really good friends,” she said.
“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.'”
Henry Simmons
Henry Simmons and Lauren Sánchez were briefly engaged in the early 2000s. (KMazur/WireImage)
Sánchez was briefly engaged to “NYPD Blue” star Henry Simmons in the early 2000s.
Not much is known about their relationship, but it was reported that Sánchez called off her engagement with Simmons shortly after meeting her ex-husband, Patrick Whitesell.
Patrick Whitesell
Sanchez and Whitesell were married for 13 years before their divorce in 2019. ( Jeff Vespa/WireImage)
Patrick Whitesell and Sánchez tied the knot in 2005. They went on to have a son, Evan Whitesell, in 2006 and a daughter, Eleanor Whitesell, in 2008.
After over a decade of marriage, the couple separated and filed for divorce.
Sánchez allegedly signed a prenuptial agreement with Whitesell. According to TMZ, the former couple’s assets and properties were divided per the agreement.
According to People, celebrity divorce lawyer Laura Wasser mediated the divorce agreement.
Sanchez and Whitesell were married for 13 years before filing for divorce in April 2019. The divorce filing came just one day after Bezos finalized his separation from Scott.
The Bezos-Sánchez wedding festivities officially kicked off as the couple landed in Venice, Italy on Wednesday.
Lauren Sánchez waves to onlookers ahead of her upcoming wedding to Jeff Bezos. (Getty Images)
The soon-to-be newlyweds were seen arriving in Venice, Italy, via helicopter.
Both were all smiles as they walked away from the air carrier arm-in-arm.
The two were seen walking arm-in-arm as they arrived in Venice, Italy ahead of their wedding. (Backgrid US)
Later, the couple were photographed arriving at the Aman Hotel via water-taxi.
As she stepped off, a glowing Sanchez turned to the crowd to give a quick wave.
Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos arrives at the Aman Hotel in Venice ahead of his wedding to Lauren Sánchez. (MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP via Getty Images)
According to multiple reports, the couple decided to change one of their wedding venues in Venice because of security concerns and possible protests.
The couple had planned to hold a wedding party at the historic Scuola Grande della Misericordia in the Cannaregio section of the city, but are now said to be moving it to the harder-to-reach Arsenale, a former shipyard, which is completely surrounded by water and only reachable by boat when connecting bridges are raised, BBC News and Reuters reported.
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A number of celebrities are invited to the wedding festivities, which remain a secret but are expected to kick off on Thursday and end Saturday in the picturesque Italian city.
Vanity Fair reported on Wednesday that the first event of the Bezoz-Sánchez wedding will be a kick-off party in Cannaregio. The outlet noted that the wedding party has water cabs ready to escort guests to the Italian city. A city ordinance has already been sent out, blocking off traffic from 6 PM to midnight between Madonna dell’Orto and nearby streets, the outlet reported.
The party is reportedly being held in the Sant’Alvise complex, which is a 14th century church, monastery, and Barco. Per Vanity Fair, Bezos will be escorted by 10 bodyguards during the kick-off party and the Italian government has recruited reinforcements to maintain the privacy and safety of all attendees amid recent protests.