After watching the very public wedding unfold (the one with the private island, helicopter arrival, and Kim Kardashian and Oprah Winfrey on the guest list), I was blown away like everyone else. Or so I thought. When I asked my Mexican American, Gen Z neighbor what she thought about Lauren Ssnchez and the wedding spectacle in Venice she had no idea who I was talking about.
She blinked. “Who?”
“Jeff Bezos’s new wife,” I explained.
“Oh. I know Jeff Bezos, but I’ve never heard of her.”
“She’s Mexican American and just married Jeff Bezos in Italy,” I added.
Her eyes widened: “I had no idea. That’s crazy.”
Her reaction stuck with me. How is it that one of the most-watched weddings of the year included a Mexican American woman at the center of it all, and nobody seems to know this? Yes, I know Sanchez and the newlywed’s mega wealth is not a fan favorite. But, at the same time, it’s really great that a Mexican American is making headlines around the world for being too rich, right?
Love her or hate her, she’s Mexican American. And, away from the glitz and glamor of it all, she seems to have grown up like a lot of us. She was raised by hardworking Latinas, navigated language loss, and figured out how to hold on to culture in a country that tells you to let it go.
Lauren Sanchez’s Grandma was a Housekeeper
Turns out, Lauren Sanchez’s story may feel familiar to a lot of us. Her family was made up of hardworking immigrants and strong Latinas. In fact, her grandmother was a housekeeper who taught her about hard work and big dreams.
“I got my work ethic from her,” Sanchez says, according to a recent People magazine article. Sanchez says she would sometimes help her grandmother clean. “When she was teaching me, I was like, ‘I don’t know if I want to be a housekeeper,’ and she said, ‘No. This is a great job. You get to make someone’s life easier,’ ” she said. “That’s how she looked at life. That spirit is in me.”
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She also grew up with the all-too-common ache of not growing up fluent in Spanish. She says her grandmother Elsie and her mother speak Spanish, but, like many Latino households, the language wasn’t passed down.
“My mom didn’t teach me because she told me she didn’t want me to have an accent, because she thought that would hurt me,” Sánchez said in a 2024 interview with Elle. “The biggest regret I have is not being able to speak fluent Spanish.”
That regret has turned into action. Sánchez and her kids are now taking Spanish lessons together. “It’s something I crave,” she said.
Sánchez, a mother of three, is now part of a blended family with Bezos that includes nine children and grandchildren. That family is firmly rooted in Latino tradition, even if it’s playing out inside multimillion-dollar homes.
“We bond and we clash in the best possible way,” she explained in a recent interview. “We live in Miami now, and his dad, Mike, comes over. They make churros on Sunday for the kids. I’m sitting there, and they only want to put sugar on them. I’m like, ‘No, no, no, no. You need to put sugar. You need to put cinnamon. Where’s the chocolate sauce? I’ll put Tajín on it.’ “
She continued, “It’s very interesting how they’re both just like, ‘Simple, Lauren. Simple.’ It’s little things like that.”
Love Her or Hate Her
Love her or hate her, Sánchez’s story is similar to so many Latinos living in the U.S. (well, part of her story). She had the hardworking family, the complicated relationship with Spanish, and the food. The rest, like the yachts, the spaceflights, the billion-dollar lifestyle? Not so much.
Still, that little thread of familiarity is what makes some of us pause, and, just like my neighbor, say: “Wow. I had no idea. That’s crazy.”
Featured image: courtesy of Deposit Photos.
