Meet Lauren Sanchez, the former news anchor, pilot, and mother of 3 who's engaged to Jeff Bezos

Sanchez grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and studied broadcast journalism at the University of Southern California. She started her journalistic career as an intern on the Los Angeles station Channel 13 during college, according to a 2017 interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

She began anchoring UPN News 13 on Los Angeles' KCOP in 1999, winning a Los Angeles Area Emmy award for her work on the show in 2001, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Sanchez went on to work as a host at various news channels before landing at Fox 11's "Good Day LA" in 2003, where she worked for six years. She then became a weekend anchor and special correspondent on "Extra" in 2009.

As well as being an anchor in real life, Sanchez has starred as a news anchor in movies including "Fight Club," "The Day After Tomorrow," and "The Fantastic Four," according to IMDb.

Sanchez learned how to fly while working as a news anchor, and she started flying planes in 2011 before going on to get her helicopter pilot's license in 2016.

Her interest in aviation seems to have been sparked at an early age, as her father was a flight instructor and mechanic who rebuilt planes.

"I was always in the hangar growing up but knew nothing about flying," she told The Hollywood Reporter.

Sanchez founded Black Ops Aviation in 2016, a "female owned and operated" aerial filming company, which has shot footage for Amazon, Netflix, and Fox, among others.

Sanchez also lent her aerial-filming knowledge to Christopher Nolan as a consultant on "Dunkirk."

Sanchez was a host on the first season of Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance" in 2005, but she left the show after one season.

Whitesell is co-CEO of the Hollywood agency WME, and his clients include Matt Damon, Christian Bale, and Hugh Jackman. Whitesell and Sanchez married in 2005 and separated in the fall of 2018.

TMZ reported in April 2019 that Sanchez had filed for divorce from Whitesell. They finalized their divorce in October 2019 with shared custody of their two children, People magazine reported.

Sanchez also has a son from her previous relationship with NFL star Tony Gonzalez.

Bezos and Sanchez first connected at a 2016 Amazon Studios party for the film "Manchester by the Sea," according to Brad Stone's book, "Amazon Unbound."

Their relationship "blossomed" during helicopter rides in 2018, when Bezos hired Sanchez's company to film footage for his rocket company, Blue Origin, The Wall Street Journal reported.

In May, CNN reported that Sanchez and Bezos had gotten engaged, citing a source close to the couple. Sanchez was also photographed with a large diamond ring on her left ring finger while onboard Bezos' $500 million megayacht.

In Vogue's December 2023 issue, Sanchez revealed that Bezos proposed on his yacht Koru.

"When he opened the box, I think I blacked out a bit," she said.

In 2020, Bezos announced that he would commit $10 billion — about 7.7% of his net worth — to fighting climate change as part of an initiative called the Bezos Earth Fund. Sanchez serves as the organization's vice chair, according to its official website.