The ex-fiancé of Jeff Bezos’ mistress Lauren Sanchez has claimed that the TV anchor cheated on him and never returned his engagement ring after they split.
Former NFL star Anthony Miller, 53, met Sanchez at the 1996 Super Bowl when he was playing for the Denver Broncos and she was a rising star TV reporter.
The pair were together for four years and engaged for one and a half before Miller says he broke things off.
‘I couldn’t really trust her,’ Miller told the Mail on Sunday. ‘She gets around. She was cheating on me with other guys.
‘I found out when I looked in her diary, and I found out more after I broke up with her.’
However, sources close to the couple have disputed Miller’s claims, saying that it was him who cheated on Sanchez with a stripper.
Those sources also called the athlete an ‘opportunist’ for speaking out about the relationship two decades later, right after the 49-year-old’s alleged eight-month affair with world’s richest man Jeff Bezos was revealed.
The pair allegedly began seeing each other while she was still married to talent agent Patrick Whitesell. She was previously engaged to NYPD Blue actor Henry Simmons and has a 17-year-old son with former NFL player Tony Gonzalez.
Former NFL star Anthony Miller (left), 53, the ex-fiancé of Jeff Bezos’ mistress Lauren Sanchez (right), claims that the TV anchor cheated on him and never returned his engagement ring after they split following a four-year relationship that began in 1996
Sources close to the couple called Miller an ‘opportunist’ for speaking out about the relationship two decades later, right after Sanchez’ alleged eight-month affair with world’s richest man Jeff Bezos was revealed. The married TV anchor reportedly set her sights on Bezos (right) after she and husband Patrick Whitesell (left) became friends with the billionaire Amazon founder several years ago. They are pictured above in 2016
Miller said that he met Sanchez at a reception for the 1996 Super Bowl in Tempe, Arizona, where she was a reporter at a local station.
‘She was a beautiful lady. A lot of guys kept hitting on her,’ he said of the then-26-year-old.
‘I caught her when they were breaking down the cameras, and asked her if she wanted to grab something to eat. She said yes.
‘We were together for four years, and engaged for a year-and-a-half, maybe two years.
He continued: ‘She was a good person to have around – when she was with you. If you needed a massage or something to eat or anything, she’d be there for you. But if she was away from you – no. I didn’t trust her.
‘When I first met her she was a local TV reporter and right after that she went out to Los Angeles and got a job on Extra and then was on Fox Sports too.’
Miller said that as Sanchez’ career took off, other top sports stars began pursuing her.
He said that outsiders thought he was the one cheating because of his high-paying gig with the Broncos.
‘I thought: What are you talking about me? Why aren’t you talking about her?’ he said.
A source close to the couple told the Mail On Sunday: ‘This is a relationship from over 25 years ago and Anthony cheated on her.
‘He cheated on her with a stripper and the woman actually called her and told her.
‘In fact she forgave him after he cheated on her and has always been very gracious to him.’
The source added: ‘For him to be coming out with this story now just shows him to be a bitter opportunist. He obviously thinks women are only good for a massage and making him food.’
Miller said of the stripper allegation: ‘That’s just a lie. I’m not the one who was cheating.’
Miller said that he met Sanchez at a reception for the 1996 Super Bowl in Tempe, Arizona, where she was a rising star reporter at a local station. Miller said that as Sanchez’ career took off, other sports stars began pursuing her. Sanchez is seen with Pauly D and her co-host Steve Edwards on Good Day LA in April 2012
Miller said that outsiders thought he was the one who cheated on Sanchez because of his high-paying gig with the Broncos. He is seen on the field in 1996, while the pair were dating
Miller criticized Sanchez as being ‘very frugal, really kind of cheap’.
‘She wanted me to pay for everything,’ he said. ‘She was making good money back then, reporting for Extra and on Fox Sports News, but she didn’t like paying.’
Miller also claimed that Sanchez pressured him into proposing.
‘I kind of gave her [the ring] because she bugged me about getting married,’ he said, adding that he never saw the ring again after they split in 1999.
‘She kept it. I didn’t say anything,’ he said.
The source defended against Miller’s claims, saying: ‘Lauren is a successful Emmy-winning journalist who never needed men to pay for anything.
‘Saying she was frugal couldn’t be further from the truth, Lauren was a multi millionaire in her 20s before she met any of these men.
‘In fact after they broke up Anthony came to her and asked her for money.
‘This is just pathetic – he’s just a washed-up has-been. But Lauren will rise above this.’
Miller, who now owns a legal marijuana growing operation in Orange County, California, said he hasn’t spoken to Sanchez for years, and that he’s now ‘cool with her’.
‘This happened a long time ago. Live, and move on,’ he said.
However, he said he would like to offer some private words of advice to Bezos.
‘You tell him to call me, I’ll talk to him,’ Miller said. ‘I won’t tell you what I’m going to say, but he should call me.’
The 54-year-old Amazon founder and wife MacKenzie, 48, announced their split after 25 years of marriage in a joint statement last week.
The announcement appeared to have been forced by the National Enquirer, which had been documenting his affair with Sanchez for months and collected a number of photos and sexy texts between them.
Miller said he would like to offer some private words of advice to Bezos. The 54-year-old Amazon founder and wife MacKenzie (above at the 2017 Vanity Fair Oscars party) announced their split after 25 years of marriage in a joint statement last week
At the time that the alleged affair began, Sanchez was still married to Patrick Whitesell, with whom she has two children (left). She previously dated Tony Gonzalez a former tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs (right)
A longtime friend of Sanchez on Monday told DailyMail.com of how the married TV anchor set her sights on Jeff Bezos after she and her talent agent husband Patrick Whitesell became friends with the billionaire several years ago in Seattle.
After meeting Bezos and MacKenzie socially several years ago, Sanchez told a friend: ‘Now that’s the kind of guy I need,’ the close friend claimed.
The insider was sure Sanchez was referring to his wealth, and said that the TV anchor has a penchant for ‘living large’.
In fact, during a shopping trip with girl friends to high-end department stores Neiman Marcus and Barney’s in Beverly Hills, Sanchez took home a $12,000 designer shoe haul.
When one of the women asked her what her husband would say, Sanchez supposedly replied: ‘Let’s find out.’
The friend, who wished to remain anonymous, told DailyMail.com: ‘She called him and asked: “Is it okay if I buy all these shoes?”‘ He told her yes.’
Sanchez then confided: ‘I have him wrapped – I can have anything I want.’
According to the friend, Sanchez is ‘very sweet but she was always a climber.’
Sanchez’s impressive shoe and clothes collection was even documented in an interview with Us Weekly in 2011, during which she gave a tour of her massive closet.
While working as a reporter for news magazine Extra in 2010, she offered another glimpse into her designer wardrobe during a ‘Ultimate Denim Guide’ segment.
Sources close to Sanchez have described her as a big spender. While working as a reporter for news magazine Extra in 2010, she offered glimpse into her designer wardrobe during a ‘Ultimate Denim Guide’ segment (above)
Sanchez’s impressive shoe collection can be seen in the background
Sanchez is a third-generation Mexican-American who was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she had a modest upbringing.
In 2017 interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Sanchez revealed she ‘came from nothing’ and ‘used to sleep in the back of my grandmother’s car when she would go clean houses.’
Her career in news and entertainment kicked off when she moved to California for college and later landed gigs as a television host in Los Angeles appearing on shows such as Extra, Showbiz Tonight, Fox 11 and Good Day LA.
Sanchez is shown during a recent vacation with her sister
She began angling to take over a full-time job at the local news station after a shakeup that led to the departures of longtime hosts Dorothy Lucey and Jillian Reynolds.
‘She really wanted that gig but she was never going to get it. She tried to be a sexy anchor but she lacked taste,’ the friend dished.
‘Her bosses at Fox told her to tone it down.’
Aside from her on-screen jobs, Sanchez has a passion for flying and launched her own film aerial production, Black Ops Aviation, in 2016.
Friends believe things between Bezos and Sanchez heated up after he hired her to do aerial shots for Amazon.
Over the last several years, both couples have been photographed at glitzy events including the Vanity Fair Oscars party.
Despite her affair, the friend told DailyMail.com that Sanchez and Whitesell remain friends and were even spotted chatting at Amazon’s Golden Globes after party on January 6.
News of Bezos’s and Sanchez’s relationship would break just days later, along with reports of an eight-month affair involving steamy texts, nude photo exchanges, private jet rendezvous, intimate dinners and sleepovers at each other’s marital homes.
But those stories came to light after Sanchez allegedly bragged to friends about her secret lover and sent them the explicit text messages and selfies he had sent her.
According to Page Six, Sanchez sent a friend a photograph of Bezos’s genitalia which he had sent her along with other messages which included him telling her he loved her and that he wanted to ‘breathe her in’.
The friend slipped the messages to The National Enquirer and that it was triggered its exhaustive, four month investigation into the pair’s romance, according to the source.
One source who claimed to have seen the photograph of Bezos’ genitalia that he sent Sanchez told Page Six: ‘He’s big.’
Sanchez (far left) was spotted alongside Bezos at Amazon’s Golden Globes party on January 6
They have both denied cheating on their spouses since details of their romance emerged on Wednesday evening.
Sanchez and Hollywood mega agent Whitesell tied the knot in 2005 at a star-studded wedding in Santa Barbara that was packed with many of Whitesell’s biggest clients.
‘Matt and Ben don’t get to see each other often, so we sat them together,’ Sanchez told People at the time, referring to Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.
Also on the guest list was Jennifer Garner, Jessica Alba, and Hugh Jackman.
The pair did a ‘sexy rumba’ for their first dance, choreographed by So You Think You Can Dance’s Mary Murphy, and shared a passionate kiss at the altar.
‘The kiss was long. You could tell they’re in love,’ wedding planner Marianne Weiman-Nelson recalled.
It seemed like a dream come true for Sanchez, who had previously been engaged to NYPD Blue actor Henry Simmons and shares son Nico, now 17, with ex-boyfriend Tony Gonzalez, a former tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs.
After giving birth to Evan, now 12, and Ella, 10, Sanchez returned to Extra as a weekend anchor and special correspondent and began co-hosting Good Day La from 2011 to 2017.
She also made a number of appearances on the big screen, portraying a news anchor for movies including White House Down, Ted 2, and We Bought A Zoo.
Sanchez became a single mom after giving birth to son Nikko with former NFL player Tony Gonzalez in 2001. She is pictured here with Nikko in 2003
The TV host has been married to Hollywood mega agent Whitesell (left) since 2005. She was previously engaged to the actor Henry Simmons (right)
But even as her hosting career flourished, Sanchez was finding out she was happiest behind the camera – and above the ground.
Sanchez served as a consultant for Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk, and most recently worked as an aerial producer for the upcoming Miss Bala starring Gina Rodriguez.
Sanchez’s company was hired to shoot an aerial video for Bezos’s side venture Blue Origin.
It was previously reported that the pair have been dating since June, months before Sanchez separated from Whitesell in the fall and nine months before Bezos announced he was splitting with Mackenzie.
According to the Enquirer, the pair met several times for illicit trysts as often as six times in two weeks.
He reportedly took her on vacations on his $65million private jet and sent her erotic selfies that were ‘too explicit’ even for the magazine to print.
A source close to Bezos told DailyMail.com that the Amazon founder only began seeing Sanchez after separating from his wife – however the National Enquirer claims the affair went on behind their spouses’ backs.
Bezos released a statement announcing their divorce on his Twitter account last week in a bid to present the news in a favorable light.
He and his wife described each other as ‘cherished friends’ and gave the impression their break-up was amicable.
‘If we had known we would separate after 25 years, we would do it all again,’ they said in a joint statement.
