Before she hooked up with one of the world’s richest men, erstwhile news anchor, occasional entertainment reporter and former “So You Think You Can Dance” host Lauren Sánchez was married for more than a dozen years to another rich and powerful man, showbiz heavy hitter Patrick Whitesell, the executive chairman of talent and media colossus Endeavor.
After a successful six-year stint managing top talent at Creative Artists Agency, Whitesell, moved in the early Aughts over to Endeavor Talent Agency where he went on to help Ari Emanuel orchestrate the 2009 merger between Endeavor and the William Morris Agency. Initially named William Morris Endeavor, the many-tentacled entertainment agency was renamed to Endeavor in 2017, and, earlier this year, when Endeavor went public, Bloomberg reported that Emanuel and Whitesell together controlled shares worth almost $840 million.
While married, Sánchez and Whitesell had a couple of kids together — they also each had a child from a previous relationship — and they regularly hobnobbed with celebs and other power players and titans of business. (It was, oddly enough, Whitesell who introduced Sánchez to Bezos in 2016!) In 2006, the then newly wedded couple shelled out $11 million for a gated and then brand-new hilltop estate nipped down a barely-there cul-de-sac high in the mountains above Beverly Hills. In the fall of 2017, Whitesell dropped another $4.8 million on a vacant piece of property next door.
It wasn’t too long after that the marriage fizzled and Sánchez filed for divorce on the day after Bezos’ divorce was finalized in April 2019. Sánchez is still with Bezos — she’s been spotted wearing some pretty big sparklers and was referred to as his fiancee in a court filing though no engagement has been announced, and word on the street is Whitesell secretly married Chilean-born Australian soap-story actress Pia Miller early this year. (Both have been spotted wearing what appear to be wedding rings and Pia changed her last name to Whitesell on her social media, but no marriage has been officially announced.) So, with everyone moved on, and everyone financed up the wazoo, it’s not too much of a surprise that Whitesell has opted to sell the Beverly Hills home he long shared with his former wife, which has just come to market at nearly $22 million. (The still-vacant neighboring parcel can be acquired for an additional $5 million.)
Listings held by Kurt Rappaport at Westside Estate Agency generously describe the 1.27-acre city-view spread as “reminiscent of the south of France,” with five bedrooms and 8.5 bathrooms in nearly 11,000 square feet spread across the two-story main house, which sits atop a six-car subterranean garage, and detached two-story guesthouse and recreation pavilion.
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Image Credit: Redfin Arched wooden gates swing open to a cobblestone motor court. Set into a faux-quoined porch, the front door opens to a grand double-height foyer that introduces many of the materials seen throughout the house: travertine, wrought iron, rustic wood beams, and chalky-white plaster.
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Image Credit: Redfin Anchored by a carved stone mantelpiece that may or may not be antique, the formal living room spills out to the flat, grassy backyard, and a pub room features another possibly antique fireplace and slender, rough-cut beams across the ceiling.
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Image Credit: Redfin But for the inlaid wood floor, the dining room is a pretty ordinary dining room, while huge wood beams add character to the kitchen, with its gold-veined marble counters and designer appliances.
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Image Credit: Redfin In addition to a cozy den for casual TV watching, there’s a professional movie theater with leather recliners.
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Image Credit: Redfin The mansion’s main bedroom offers a chateau-style fireplace, arched French doors to a stone terrace, two dressing rooms, and two decadently appointed bathrooms.
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Image Credit: Redfin A paneled study adjoins the main suite.
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Image Credit: Redfin At the far end of the backyard, the two-story guesthouse and recreation pavilion contains a game room, a fitness area, and a high-end golf simulator.
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Image Credit: Redfin Set on a high plateau with cross-canyon mountain and canyon-framed city-lights views, the sunny backyard includes a covered dining terrace and outdoor kitchen and a simple rectangular swimming pool and spa surrounded by grass. Tucked away on the steep hillside below the house are raised bed gardens and a quaint, treehouse-like writing shack or mediation studio.
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Image Credit: Redfin Whitesell has already vacated the premises — listing photos show it staged for the selling process — and though he owns a few other residential properties around Los Angeles, including an ocean front home in Santa Monica he and Sánchez scooped up in 2013 for almost $4.3. million, he and his new bride seem to be spending a fair amount of time shacked up in an ocean-front home in Malibu. However, there are rumors aswirl they’ve already dropped a huge fortune on a very impressive mansion in one of L.A.’s most expensive and prestigious neighborhoods.
As for Sánchez, who now shares Bezos’ many lavish homes around the globe, including a $165-million Beverly Hills mansion bought from David Geffen and a $78-million Hawaiian hideway, tax records indicate she’s now the sole owner of a waterfront home just outside Seattle, on Mercer Island, that she and Whitesell picked up in 2017 for $6.2 million.