When billionaire Amazon mogul Jeff Bezos marries busty Lauren Sanchez in Venice today, four people will be taking a special interest in his glamorous bride – because she will officially become their new stepmother.
The balding billionaire shares his children with ex-wife MacKenzie Scott, 55 – who was left heartbroken when his affair with Sanchez, also 55, was splashed across the tabloids in 2019.
But while their new stepmother – and their father – have embraced the spotlight, very little is known about his children.
The Bezos children live in near-total privacy — despite their father’s global fame
Bezos, 61, has long been protective of their privacy with only eldest son Preston’s name known to the public.
Along with Preston, now 25, he also has two younger sons and a daughter who he and Scott adopted from China.
Although all four had been expected to attend his glitzy Venice bash, none of Bezos’s children have been pictured so far – unlike Sanchez’s own sons Nikko Gonzalez, who was born in 2002 before her split with footballer Tony Gonzalez, and Evan Whitesell.
The latter, who, as well as a daughter called Ella, she shares with ex-husband Patrick Whitesell, was spotted partying at a foam shindig on Bezos’s yacht Koru to celebrate his 19th birthday last Sunday.
But, like their mother, who has long preferred a low-key lifestyle, Bezos’s children have always lived an ‘abnormally normal’ lifestyle despite their huge fortune – with Bezos himself still driving a 1997 Honda in 2013 because it was ‘a perfectly good car’.
In a 2013 interview with Vogue, Scott, a novelist, gave a snapshot of their life – which for a time included homeschooling – telling the publication: ‘We tried all sorts of things, including off-season travel, kitchen-science experiments, chicken incubation, Mandarin lessons, the Singapore math program, and lots of clubs and sports with other neighborhood kids.’
Four years later, Bezos gave another glimpse into their life during an appearance at SummitLA17 during which he talked about letting them take risks.
‘Our kids, even now – they’re 17 through 12, but even when they were four, we would let them use our knives, he said.
‘By the time they were, I don’t know, maybe seven or eight, we would let them use certain power tools.’
Referring to Scott, he added: ‘She said, “I would much rather have a kid with nine fingers than a resourceless kid.” Which I just think is a fantastic attitude about life.’
Inside the Bezos kids’ grounded upbringing
Eventually, the Bezos children did return to mainstream education, enrolling in the swanky Lakeside School – a private establishment in a leafy part of Seattle that also taught tech tycoon Bill Gates and his three children.
It was through Lakeside that the children got their now former stepfather, chemistry teacher Dan Jewett – a dead ringer for their famous dad.
Staying true to her low-key style, Scott announced their 2021 marriage by updating her page on the Giving Pledge website with a photo of the pair together.
She also included a statement from a marveling Jewett, now 48, that read: ‘And now, in a stroke of happy coincidence, I am married to one of the most generous and kind people I know — and joining her in a commitment to pass on an enormous financial wealth to serve others.’
He added: ‘It is strange to be writing a letter indicating I plan to give away the majority of my wealth during my lifetime, as I have never sought to gather the kind of wealth required to feel like saying such a thing would have particular meaning.
‘I have been a teacher for the majority of my life, as well as a grateful student of the generosity of those around me.
‘This has meant doing my best to follow their example by passing on resources of all kinds — from time, to energy, to material possessions — when I have had them to give.’
Jewett had previously been married to a woman named Jill Myers, 45, who he divorced not long before his marriage to Scott, with that relationship ending in January 2019 according to court records.
But just one year after Jewett’s warm words announcing the nuptials, the pair jointly filed for divorce with the petition lodged on September 26, 2022.
Neither requested spousal support in the court papers obtained by the Daily Mail and the divorce was finalized on January 4, 2023. A confidential separation agreement was also filed.
And, in a heartbreaking twist, Jewett moved on when the ink was barely dry on the divorce documents – and is now living with new girlfriend Kathryn Ohtake, 51, in the altogether more modest $873,000 mock-Tudor home she was awarded in her own divorce in 2013.
The Daily Mail revealed that the chemistry teacher had moved on with a new love in April last year, with photos showing the couple enjoying a cozy lunch in Seattle’s University District – close to their home.
Sanchez officially joins the Bezos clan
What the Bezos children made of their mother’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it second marriage remains to be seen but they do appear to have a cozy relationship with new stepmother Sanchez.
Speaking to the Wall Street Journal in January 2023, Sanchez joked about their blended brood of seven children being like the ‘Brady Bunch’.
The busty brunette said: ‘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.’