When Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez started dating, they were both still legally married.

He's the world’s fourth-richest man, with a net worth of approximately $230 billion, so it's little wonder that Jeff Bezos' divorce and subsequent romance with Lauren Sánchez was the subject of public interest.

As the two prepare to tie the knot, fans can't help but think back to how it all started.

In one giant mess.

Bezos and author Mackenzie Scott announced their divorce in 2019, but a mere day later, reports came out that he had already moved on with ex-news anchor, Lauren Sánchez, despite the fact she was still married to talent agent Patrick Whitesell.

Jeff and Lauren later gave an eye-opening Vogue interview to celebrate their engagement and upcoming wedding, and that only got tongues waggling more.

Let's go back through each of their marriages, divorces and, of course, all those pesky cheating rumours.

Jeff Bezos and Mackenzie Scott's marriage.

Jeff is the founder, executive chairman, and former president and CEO of Amazon, which paved the way for him to become... incredibly rich.

Bezos has since founded the aerospace manufacturer Blue Origin, which sends people to space, purchased American newspaper The Washington Post, and co-founded the biotechnology company Altos Labs.

He's a busy boy.

Jeff and Mackenzie married in 1993 after meeting at the hedge fund D.E. Shaw & Co. in New York City. “My office was next door to his, and all day long I listened to that fabulous laugh,” Scott told Vogue in February 2013. “How could you not fall in love with that laugh?”

Before meeting Bezos, Scott was studying for a Nobel Laureate in Literature at Princeton University and became a research assistant for author Toni Morrison.

In 1994, Jeff started Amazon and MacKenzie became the company’s first employee.

Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Bezos in 2018. Image: Getty.

In January 2019, after 25 years of marriage, Bezos and Scott issued a joint statement that they were divorcing.

"We want to make people aware of a development in our lives. As our family and close friends know, after a long period of loving exploration and trial separation, we have decided to divorce and continue our shared lives as friends," the statement read. "If we had known we would separate after 25 years, we would do it all again."

Scott reportedly received $38 billion in the divorce settlement, making her the world's fourth-richest woman. She planned to donate half to charity.

The couple share four children together, but only their oldest son, Preston, is publicly known.

Lauren Sánchez and Patrick Whitesell's marriage.

Sánchez has enjoyed a varied career in movies and TV. She's worked as a news anchor, a correspondent on Extra, a host on So You Think You Can Dance, and made cameos in movies like Fight Club and The Day After Tomorrow.

She's also a trained helicopter pilot and started the aerial filming company Black Ops Aviation in 2016.

Lauren and Patrick got married in a star-studded wedding in August 2005. Why so many celebs? Well, Patrick is kind of a big deal in Hollywood, as the CEO of leading talent agency WME. He's been a big name for decades, as the agent for stars such as Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, and his client list includes Idris Elba, Hugh Jackman, and Denzel Washington.

While he's not Bezos-level rich, he doesn't do badly for himself. In 2015, Forbes estimated that Patrick was worth around $440 million.

Patrick Whitesell and Lauren Sanchez in 2012. Image: Getty.

Due to the nature of the business, Patrick and Jeff are actually old friends who have worked together on Amazon’s film and TV projects.

“Patrick and Lauren have socialised with Jeff Bezos and his wife for a few years," a source told Page Six in 2019.

After 14 years of marriage, their relationship officially came to an end when Bezos and Sánchez went public with their romance in January 2019. At the time, Sánchez and Whitesell were still married but reportedly separated.

In April 2019, the couple filed for divorce, reportedly recruiting Hollywood’s go-to divorce lawyer, Laura Wasser, to reach a settlement. The exes agreed to joint custody of their two kids together Ella, 15, and Evan, 16.

Lauren also has a child from a previous relationship with former NFL star Tony Gonzalez.

Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez's alleged affair and engagement.

As mentioned, Bezos and Sánchez likely met through her then-husband, Patrick, which ummm... awkward.

But the timeline of when their romance began is still unclear. A few hours after Jeff and Mackenzie announced their divorce, reports came out that Jeff was already dating Lauren.

According to Brad Stone's book on Bezos called Amazon Unbound, he claims the pair first connected in 2016 at an Amazon Studios party for the film Manchester by the Sea.

The book also claims that in March 2018, Sanchez was invited to Amazon's MARS conference, and then in July, Bezos hired Sanchez's helicopter company for a Blue Origin project.

By October, Bezos and Sánchez were photographed enjoying a helicopter ride together over Santa Monica, California, which was two months before the divorce announcement.

A few days before the divorce confirmation, Jeff and Lauren were seen together at a Golden Globes afterparty.

Then came the scandal, which broke a day after Bezos announced the divorce.

The National Enquirer released an exposé claiming that Bezos and Sánchez had been cheating for eight months. The billionaire was said to have timed the divorce announcement to get ahead of the report.

The Enquirer shared Bezos' alleged raunchy selfies and text messages, including some... curious exchanges. “I love you, alive girl. I will show you with my body, and my lips and my eyes, very soon,” he allegedly sent Lauren in an April 2018 text exchange.

Bezos has since blasted the article in a lengthy post on the website Medium, accusing the Enquirer of extortion and attempting to blackmail him over the texts.

As far as Sánchez and Whitesell's relationship is concerned, it's been reported that the talent agent knew Jeff and Lauren were dating. "Patrick and Lauren have been on and off for a while and have been separated. [Patrick] knew they were seeing each other," an insider told PEOPLE.

But whether they technically cheated or not, the timeline of events has always been a little odd.

For instance, the day after Jeff and Mackenzie released a statement saying they had "finished the process of dissolving" their marriage in April 2019, Sánchez and Whitesell finally filed for divorce.

Until this point, they were still legally married – while Lauren was apparently dating Jeff.

A few days after the Bezos divorce was finalised, in July 2019, he and Sánchez made their first public appearance at Wimbledon.

Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez at Wimbledon in 2019. Image: Getty.

Since then, the couple have gone from strength to strength. In early 2020, Bezos purchased the Warner estate in Beverly Hills for $165 million, which was the most expensive home sale in Californian history.

They have since also purchased the property next door and a home in Maui, Hawaii. But ultimately, the couple plan to settle in Miami, Florida to be closer to Jeff's parents and Blue Origin's operations.

Sánchez boasted about her partner in a 2023 interview. “He’s so happy, he inspires me every day, he makes me a better person every day; he’s the most loving human I know,” she told WSJ Magazine in January.

She also spoke warmly about her relationship with ex, Tony, but didn't share the same sentiments about ex-husband, Patrick.

"My greatest example is the relationship I have with my eldest son’s father, Tony,” she told WSJ.

“I learned how to co-parent with him, so I have more experience than Jeff might have. Tony and his wife are my best friends. That took about five years, but we always communicated... 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.'"

Soon, the couple were spotted cruising around Europe on Jeff's $750 million superyacht, including hitting up the South of France for the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.

By May 2023, Page Six reported that Jeff and Lauren were engaged, which was later confirmed by the couple.

Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos in 2023. Image: Getty.

In the feature for Vogue, Lauren opened up about the relationship, saying, "I am looking forward to being Mrs Bezos. We’re still thinking about the wedding [and] what it’s going to be. Is it going to be big? Is it going to be overseas? We don’t know yet.”

Jeff has a hands-off approach to wedding planning, but trusts Lauren's decisions.

“Lauren has amazing intuition, almost witchy powers in that regard,” he said of his fiancée. “She sees things that other people don’t see. She’s really very sensitive to other people and what they’re thinking.”

With 40 years of marriage experience between them both, Jeff and Lauren are more than happy to simply do regular 'life stuff' together – well, as normal as life can be for a couple of multi-billionaires.

"On a typical Saturday, we hang out, we have dinner with the kids, which is always fun because you never know where the conversation is going to go with this many kids," Sánchez told WSJ Magazine.

"We are the Brady Bunch!"

Now, as the pair year up to tie the knot on their superyacht in Venice, it seems the mess was all worth it.

Feature image: Getty.

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