Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and wife MacKenzie Bezos announced their divorce nearly two days after the National Enquirer informed the billionaire of an impending expose on intimate text messages he exchanged with another woman, the tabloid claims.
As part of a four-month investigation, National Enquirer reported Thursday that they obtained sexually suggestive text messages Bezos sent to girlfriend Lauren Sanchez.
“I love you, alive girl. I will show you with my body, and my lips and my eyes, very soon,” he said in one from April 2018. A month later, he wrote: “I want to smell you, I want to breathe you in. I want to hold you tight .… I want to kiss your lips …. I love you. I am in love with you.”
The National Enquirer also reported that it tracked Bezos and “busy beauty” Sanchez across five states for their romantic getaways, and that Bezos used his $65 million private jet to take her to exotic places.
Sanchez, 49, is married to Hollywood talent agent Patrick Whitesell and has three kids. She has had small roles in movies and has also appeared on TV. Her credits include hosting Fox’s “So You Think You Can Dance” in 2005 and reporting for entertainment show “Extra.”
With a joint statement, Jeff Bezos, 54, and MacKenzie Bezos, 48, who have four children together, announced their split after 25 years of marriage on Wednesday.
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The Enquirer reported that a lawyer told the outlet that it was “widely known” that Bezos and his wife were “long separated.”
But in their joint statement, the Bezoses indicated that the knowledge of their separation was more limited to their inner circle. “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,” they said.
The Amazon CEO and Washington Post owner is currently the wealthiest man in the world, worth approximately $137 billion, meaning a divorce settlement could be the costliest in history. TMZ reports that the pair had no prenuptial agreement and that MacKenzie could ultimately walk away with up to $67 billion.
