After Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez announced their engagement in 2023, they were feted at two glitzy celebrations by some of the biggest names in celebrity world: Oprah Winfrey, Barbra Streisand, Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert Pattinson and Kris Jenner.
But now that the Amazon founder and his attention-seeking fiancée are reportedly sending out invitations to their wedding, set to take place this summer in Venice, they must realize that a lot has changed in America and that some of those stars could — or should — have issues with being seen with them.
Before and after Donald Trump was elected president, Bezos notoriously “bent the knee” to America’s polarizing leader, as multiple news organizations said. The second-richest man in the world, and owner of the Washington Post, began his public surrender to Trump with his “11th-hour decision” to kill the newspaper’s endorsement of Kamala Harris, as longtime columnist Ruth Marcus wrote in the New Yorker, explaining her decision in March to resign from the paper.
In the aftermath of Trump’s election, Bezos said he was “optimistic” about Trump’s second term after his combative relationship with him during his first term. He and Sanchez joined Musk for dinner with Donald and Melania Trump at Mar-a-Lago, with Trump boasting, “In this term, everybody wants to be my friend.” The couple also listened to Melania “regale” them with details of her planned documentary — for which Bezos’ Amazon paid the first lady a reported $40 million.
Bezos and Sanchez effectively embraced Trump’s leadership by participating in a pretty stunning bit of stagecraft at Trump’s inauguration, which arguably served both Trump’s interests and their own. They stood in an honored position in the U.S. Capitol with other global tech titans, including Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Tim Cook, in what The Guardian called a display of “oligarchy” and the powerful influence they expect “to wield” in Trump’s America.
The night before Trump’s inauguration, Bezos and Sanchez also attended what Sanchez hailed as “a magical evening” — a candlelight dinner honoring Trump, where they got to schmooze with such MAGA figures as Musk, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.
Some of Bezos and Sanchez’s famous liberal friends were very outspoken in their opposition to Trump getting a second term — and the danger they said he posed to American democracy. While speaking at a campaign rally on behalf of Kamala Harris, Winfrey warned that the country stood on “precipice of danger,” with Trump poised to usher in an authoritarian regime if elected.
As DiCaprio also endorsed Harris, he blasted Trump for denying “the facts” and “science” on climate change. Meanwhile, Streisand called Trump a “travesty” and a “sloppy, sleepy … serial liar (who) can’t face the truth” and who lacks “shame or dignity” or “common decency.”
Eva Longoria and Katy Perry also campaigned for Harris, with Longoria saying that America would become such a “scary place” under Trump that she was happy to be living outside the United States.
But will these celebrities’ opposition to Trump stop them from attending what could be the wedding of the year — if not the decade?
Over the weekend, the New York Post reported that Bezos and Sánchez are set to tie the knot on their $500 million mega-yacht, Koru, off the coast of Italy in June. Puck News also first reported that formal invitations, which could be seen as highly coveted, had hit the mail.
After Bezos and Sanchez first announced their engagement in 2023, they hosted a party on their yacht near Positano, Italy with a lineup of A-star guests who included DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Bill Gates, Ari Emanuel, Andrew Garfield, Queen of Jordan Rania Al Abdullah and Kris Jenner.
Another engagement celebration took place several months later at the Beverly Hills home of fashion designer Diana von Furstenberg and husband Barry Diller. The guests at that part included Winfrey, Streisand, Jenner, Pattinson, Suki Waterhouse, Salma Hayek and Miranda Kerr.
Now, with the wedding in the works, people will be wondering which of these A-listers will receive invitations. And, which ones will attend what could be seen as a prime public-relations opportunity for Bezos and Sanchez? Or, more to the point, which ones will be OK with letting the world that they are there? But will some take a stand against Bezos and Sanchez’s friendly relationship with Trump, if only to not aggravate their liberal fan base?
Meanwhile, could Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner be on the guest list? Speaking of Ivanka Trump, it’s easy to imagine Jenner and her daughters, Kim, Khloe Kardashian or Kourtney Kardashian, attending the wedding, given that the clan has been happy in recent years to flaunt their social connections to both Ivanka Trump as well as to Sanchez.
It also wouldn’t be surprise to see Longoria, Perry or Gayle King attend the wedding, if Longoria and Perry were staunchly pro-Harris.
As much as Longoria called Trump “a convicted criminal who spews so much hate,” the “Desperate Housewives” star has shown an ability to turn a blind eye when it comes to her friends, Bezos and Sanchez, cozying up to Trump.
Earlier this month, Longoria included Sanchez in the “badass” women she celebrated in an Instagram post for International Women’s Day. The longtime activist also praised Bezos and Sanchez for their “courage and civility” after she received a $50 million prize from them last year to be shared with nonprofits of her choice.
Meanwhile, King and Perry are set to join Sanchez on an upcoming all-female trip to space on one of Bezos’s Blue Origin rockets.
Perry has a problematic social history with Bezos and Sanchez, in that the couple were attending Perry’s lavish 40th birthday party in Europe on the same weekend that Bezos plunged the Washington Post into crisis by killing the newspaper’s endorsement of Harris. But this social history also suggests Perry will most definitely try to be at the wedding, with her husband Orlando Bloom.
Meanwhile, the response to King’s Instagram announcement that she would be joining Sanchez on the Blue Origin flight shows the backlash that she and other celebrities could face by aligning themselves with Sanchez and Bezos, including by attending their wedding.
Many of the comments on King’s announcement were critical of her for associating with the couple, even for what’s been billed as a “historic” Blue Origin flight.
“Sometimes you gotta say no,” one person said. “You know what (Bezos) stands for. That you are willingly participating is mind boggling and deeply disappointing,” said another.
“I am so disappointed that you’re participating in this PR stunt by an oligarch,” a third person said. “Where’s your integrity? How are we the public to trust you or CBS to report on Bezos’ gutting WaPo knowing he gave you a million dollar ride to space?”
“Very disappointed in you @gayleking aligning with oligarchs while America crashes and burns,” said a fourth.