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Lauren Sánchez Bezos revealed how one of her sons surprised her with a heartfelt speech during her and Jeff Bezos’ wedding in Italy last summer.
By Adrianne Reece Mar 04, 2026 7:08 PMTags
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Lauren Sánchez Bezos still remembers this touching interaction.
The journalist reflected on her favorite moments from her and Jeff Bezos’ wedding in Italy last summer, including how one of her sons made her emotional with his speech.
“One of my kids, who is dyslexic, went up there and talked about a moment that was extremely important to him,” Lauren, 56, said during her Mar. 4 appearance on the Today show. “I had no idea what he was going to say.”
True to her words, the pilot—who shares kids Evan, 18, and Ella, 17, with ex Patrick Whitesell, as well as son Nikko, 24, with ex Tony Gonzalez—was surprised when her son talked about a pivotal memory from his childhood.
“He was in the 4th grade, not writing well, and he wrote this sentence that says, ‘I can do this,’” Lauren recalled, becoming visibly emotional. “It was his first sentence, and that’s really late to be writing your first sentence as any parent with a kid with dyslexia knows. I blew (that paper) up and I put it in our kitchen. Anyway, he talked about how special that moment was for him.”
She continued of his speech, “That was literally the most meaningful and impactful moment at my wedding, besides getting married to Jeff.”
Indeed, this soliloquy hit home for Lauren, who was also diagnosed with dyslexia when she was 19 years old. She admitted she suffered with spelling certain sentences growing up, but it wasn’t until her community college teacher Lori got her tested that she learned of the condition.
“I went through life hiding it, even when I was a news anchor [at Good Day LA],” she explained. “No one knew I was dyslexic except my co-anchor Rick Garcia and he would help me.”
Lauren Sánchez/Instagram
Since then, Lauren—also stepmom to the Amazon founder’s four kids, whom he shares with ex-wife Mackenzie Scott—has embraced her condition, including writing about her struggles in her latest book The Fly Who Flew Under the Sea. And as she continues to be an inspiration for her son, she’s preparing for her daughter to hit a big milestone: Going off to college.
In fact, her preparation has been filled with a few laughs and tears.
“I went to dinner with [Ella] the other night,” Lauren playfully reminisced on Today. “I’m really not a crier, but I started talking about college and I just started crying. And I thought she was going to be like, ‘Mom, are you OK?’ She started laughing at me, literally.”
Keep reading to see Lauren and Jeff bonding with their blended family…
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