Jeff Bezos, worth $148bn, becomes world’s most overpaid Instagram boyfriend

Billionaire Jeff Bezos was seen snapping photos of his rumoured fiancé Lauren Sanchez aboard his new yacht as it travelled through Italy, making him the world’s most overpaid “Instagram boyfriend”.

The couple, who reportedly got engaged in May, took a trip to Portofino, Italy, on Monday. As captured in pictures shared by the DailyMail, they set sail on Bezos’ superyacht, Koru, which is reportedly worth $500m.

While aboard the large luxury boat, Bezos wore a black shirt and multi-coloured swim trunks, while his partner of five years wore a black bikini, which she paired with matching sunglasses.

The Amazon founder, who is worth more than $148bn, also took a moment to be Sanchez’s personal photographer. While leaning on the metal railing of the yacht, the 53-year-old appeared to pose in front of the iPhone her partner was holding.

As he faced the camera toward Sanchez and the boat’s deck, the Blue Origin founder could be seen leaning back in an apparent effort to capture his partner’s best angles.

In another picture of the couple, shared by the DailyMail, the 59-year-old was captured handing his phone to Sanchez, presumably so she could see how the photo shoot turned out.

“He’s an Instagram boyfriend,” one person tweeted in response to the photos of the couple, while another said: “This has me giggling because one of the wealthiest men in the world is no different than other dudes when it comes to being forced to take multiple pics of their lady until she’s happy with the angle and lighting lol.”

“I’m putting this on my vision board,” someone else joked of the couple’s behaviour, while another described the moment as “relationship goals”.

As noted by The Atlantic, Kaitlyn Tiffany explained on the podcast Why’d You Push That Button? that an “Instagram boyfriend, or husband, is a loose term for whoever is the invisible person behind the camera of all of your Instagram photos”.

The couple arrived on the yacht in Italy via helicopter, with Sanchez and Bezos landing on Koru’s support vessel, a shadow boat for the super yacht that is reportedly worth more than $75m.

The couple were also reportedly joined in Portofino by Sanchez’s three children. The former news anchor shares one son, Nikko, with former NFL star Tony Gonzalez, as well as a son, Evan, and a daughter, Eleanor, with ex-husband Patrick Whitesell.

Meanwhile, Bezos shares three sons and one daughter with ex-wife MacKenzie Scott, who he was married to for 25 years. The former couple keeps their children’s lives private, with only the name of their eldest son, Preston, known to the public.

Last month, it was reported that Bezos and Sanchez had gotten engaged after five years of dating. The rumours of an engagement came amid the couple’s first vacation aboard Bezos’ super yacht. Bezos reportedly popped the question while the couple were in Cannes, France, for the Cannes Film Festival.

On 25 May Sanchez seemingly hinted at the engagement on her Instagram Story, where she shared a photo of herself on the trip. In the caption, she wrote:  “Cannes 2023. That was fun.”

Days later, fans were quick to mock Bezos when it was reported that he spent more than $4,000 on a bottle of wine during the weekend of his engagement.

According to People, Bezos forked over $4,285 for an off-menu bottle of Dugat-Py Grand Cru from Domaine Bernard, which the couple enjoyed at La Petite Maison in Cannes, France. However, the New York Post reported that the same bottle of wine sold at auction in March 2022 for just $647, which is more than $3,500 less than what Bezos allegedly spent.

Five months before her reported engagement, Sanchez opened up the realities of being in a high-profile relationship with Bezos in an interview with WSJ Magazine.

According to the reporter, her relationship with the entrepreneur has meant that she has had to change the way she shares information, and secrets.

“It’s hard. I’m a very open person. I talk a lot. I like to tell all my secrets,” she said, before adding: “I have had to learn that I can’t do that.”

She also said that prioritising privacy and keeping information to herself is something that she has to think about “all the time”.

“I want to tell everyone everything. I want everyone to be my friend!” she said. “I learned how to not give the location of where I’m at. I can’t Instagram things that I normally would before. I have to be more private, a little more controlled, and that’s fine.”