Jeff Bezos is onto his second marriage, however why did he and his ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, divorce within the first place? Properly, it might do together with his romance together with his new partner: Lauren Sanchez.
Why did Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Scott divorce?
Bezos and Scott introduced their divorce on January 9, 2019, after 25 years of marriage. “We’ve had such an excellent life collectively as a married couple, and we additionally see fantastic futures forward, as mother and father, pals, companions in ventures and tasks, and as people pursuing ventures and adventures,” Bezos tweeted on the time. “Although the labels is perhaps completely different, we stay a household, and we stay cherished pals.”
Associated: All of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez’s marriage ceremony friends
The day after, information broke that Bezos and Scott didn’t have a prenuptial settlement earlier than their marriage, which means that Scott can be entitled to half of Bezos’ $137 billion internet price. (In the long run, Scott obtained a reported $38 billion in Amazon inventory, in addition to a 4 % stake within the firm, making her divorce settlement one of the costly in historical past.)
However why did Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Scott divorce? In January 2019, The Nationwide Enquirer reported that Bezos cheated on Scott together with his now-wife and former Fox anchor, Lauren Sanchez. The tabloid claimed that it had been monitoring Bezos for 4 months “throughout 5 states and 40,000 miles” earlier than he introduced his divorce from Scott. The publication additionally alleged that it had proof of Bezos “whisking his mistress off to unique locations on his $65 million non-public jet.”
Whereas Bezos didn’t deny the romance between him and Sanchez (whom he later married in 2025) on the time, his lawyer countered rumors that he had cheated on MacKenzie and informed the Nationwide Enquirer that it was “broadly identified” that Bezos and MacKenzie had been “lengthy separated” by the point he began seeing Sanchez. (Sanchez, for her half, was additionally nonetheless married to her ex-husband, Patrick Whitesell, amid rumors each she and Bezos cheated on their spouses. Sanchez and Whitesell divorced in 2019.)
The Nationwide Enquirer, for its half, claimed that its reporting was what led Bezos to publicly announce his divorce from MacKenzie. “The Nationwide Enquirer has been doggedly investigating this story for 4 months and the extraordinary particulars and proof uncovered by our crew, and offered to Mr. Bezos’ representatives for remark early this week, underscores the form of investigative reporting that the publication has lengthy been identified for,” a spokesperson for the journal informed CNN.
Brad Stone, the writer of Amazon Unbound: Jeff Bezos and the Invention of a World Empire
, additionally maintained that Bezos had cheated on Scott with Sanchez. Within the guide, Stone even included an alleged dialog between Bezos and an government at Amazon, the place he seemingly confirmed his romance with Sanchez.
“Simply to set the report straight, I did have a relationship with this girl,” Bezos informed executives, based on an excerpt of the guide revealed by The New York Submit. “However the story is totally mistaken and out of order. MacKenzie and I’ve had good, wholesome grownup conversations about it. She is ok. The youngsters are high quality. The media is having a subject day. All of that is very distracting, so thanks for being targeted on the enterprise.”
Stone additionally reported that dozens of Amazon staff had been “shocked and dissatisfied by Bezos’ affair.” “Their infallible and righteous chief was, in spite of everything, a flawed human,” he wrote.
As for the way the affair was found, Stone claimed that it wasn’t till Bezos, who was normally “guarded” about his “intact marriage” with Scott, grew to become distracted at work and more durable to find that staff at Amazon took notice. Stone, particularly, wrote that Amazon executives knew one thing was up as soon as helicopters, which Bezos famously hated, grew to become an obsession of his. Sanchez, for her half, is the proprietor of the helicopter firm Black Ops Aviation and a helicopter pilot in her personal proper.
Amazon executives had been reportedly “perplexed” after they observed the finances modifications for Black Ops, which led them to analyze his affair.
Since their divorce, Scott remarried with science trainer Dan Jewett, whom she divorced in 2023. Scott and Bezos share 4 youngsters: three sons and one daughter. Sanchez, for her half, has one son along with her ex-boyfriend, Tony Gonzalez, and two youngsters along with her ex-husband, Patrick Whitesell.
