Jeff Bezos' Ex-Wife MacKenzie Scott And New Love Lauren Sánchez Have One Big Interest In Common

On the surface, Jeff Bezos' ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, and his current wife, Lauren Sánchez Bezos, are radically different people. Lauren is a former TV news anchor turned socialite whose marriage to Jeff has only elevated her lavish, public-facing lifestyle. The Amazon founder's ex, meanwhile, has largely kept her head down following MacKenzie Scott's high-profile divorce from Jeff Bezos, continuing her own considerable philanthropic work while simultaneously (and deliberately) skirting any excessive media attention. All that being said, MacKenzie and Lauren do have one big thing in common: Their shared love of writing. In fact, both women are published authors.

MacKenzie's affinity for writing isn't surprising, given the key role she played in building Amazon, which famously started off as an online bookstore. But her passion for books goes back much further. According to The New York Times, MacKenzie wrote a nearly-150-page story when she was only six years old. As an adult, her debut novel, "The Testing of Luther Albright," was published in 2005 under her then name of MacKenzie Bezos (it has since been reissued under her current surname). The book received mixed-to-positive reviews, and was named an American Book Award winner in 2006. 

MacKenzie eventually followed up "Luther Albright" with her second novel, "Traps, which hit shelves in 2013. Lauren, meanwhile, made her debut as a children's author with her 2024 picture book "The Fly Who Flew to Space," illustrated by Raleigh Stewart. The book became a New York Times bestseller, and Lauren even teamed up with Stewart for a sequel, "The Fly Who Flew Under the Sea," in 2026. However, the new Mrs. Bezos' children's book series ended up landing her in some hot legal water.

The publication of her debut children's book "The Fly to Flew to Space" was a huge deal, especially considering Lauren Sánchez Bezos' childhood struggles with a learning disability. In April 2024, about five months before the book went on sale, she took to Instagram to commemorate World Book Day that year. "Growing up I didn't know I had dyslexia. It made reading so difficult which made me feel really behind the other kids," Lauren shared in the post, which has since been deleted, per Hola! magazine. "Don't get me wrong, my spelling is so bad even spell check doesn't know what I'm trying to write sometimes," she continued, concluding, "BUT, if the little girl in this picture knew she'd be writing a children's book, she would never have believed it. I hope 'The Fly Who Flew To Space' will inspire kids to chase their dreams, no matter how impossible they may seem."

However, Lauren's apparent moment of triumph was subsequently marred by shocking plagiarism accusations. As the Daily Mail reported at the time, shortly after "The Fly Who Flew to Space" was released in September 2024, fellow author Alanna Zabel filed a lawsuit against Lauren, alleging that Jeff Bezos' then-fiancée had ripped off her own children's book, "Dharma Kitty Goes to Mars," which came out a year and a half earlier. Zabel, who had served as Lauren's private yoga instructor from 2007 to 2010, claimed that she had discussed her plans for the book with Lauren, who then took those ideas for herself as revenge for Zabel dropping her as a student. Lauren herself has not publicly acknowledged the accusations nor the lawsuit, though the matter appears to remain active as of 2026.