Who Is Lauren Sanchez's Ex Tony Gonzalez And Why Did They Split?

Everyone knows about Lauren Sánchez's high-profile romance with Jeff Bezos (despite the signs it won't last), but not everyone knows about her former relationship with Tony Gonzalez. Gonzalez is famous for his impressive football career, playing as a tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs between 1997 and 2008 before moving to the Atlanta Falcons for four years in 2009. He began dating Sánchez while with the Chiefs, and they welcomed a son, Nikko, in February 2001. But their relationship didn't last, and they broke up not long after Nikko's birth.

Though they kept exactly what caused their breakup under wraps, Gonzalez dropped a hint about how tough he found relationships. "When you're a kid growing up, you think you'll get married and have kids, but when you get older you realize how hard it is to do that successfully," he told Best Self in 2013, while married to October Gonzalez.

We know things weren't totally amicable when Sánchez and Gonzalez called it quits, which she told The Wall Street Journal in 2023. Thankfully, that dissipated, and we know a lot more about Gonzalez and his relationship with his ex today.

After becoming a dad, Tony Gonzalez was determined to stay close to Nikko. Despite playing for the Kansas City Chiefs, his native California remained his home. "Sometimes, you've got to do what feels right," he later The New York Times, sharing that he turned down hundreds of thousands of dollars in gigs across the country and skipped a few Chiefs training sessions to ensure he could be with his son. California is likely where he met Lauren Sánchez, who moved to the Golden State from Albuquerque for college.

Staying put on the west coast allowed the father/son duo to enjoy a close relationship, so much so that Gonzalez was convinced by his son to come out of retirement. Nikko told him to give the Super Bowl one last shot after a Tom Brady-esque short retirement from the Atlanta Falcons. "Once Nikko gave me the go-ahead, I would have been foolish not to come back," the Pro Football Hall of Famer told USA Today in 2013. "... But he's right. This is what I've been playing for my whole career; it's about winning that ring. We're so close, it wouldn't make any sense not to come back."

Rumors swirled that Lauren Sánchez still had a soft spot for Tony Gonzalez years after their breakup. A source told Page Six that the former "The View" guest co-host supposedly confessed her feelings for her ex shortly before she wed Patrick Whitesell in 2005. The insider claimed the journalist and author told Gonzalez she wouldn't go through with the wedding and instead wanted to get back with him. But, despite the rumors, Sánchez married Whitesell and they welcomed two children together before divorcing in 2019. The former NFL star's representative also denied the Page Six insider's take.

The reason the Albuquerque native split with Whitesell? She'd seemingly started seeing Jeff Bezos while still legally married — which is just one of the strange things about Sánchez and Bezos' relationship. "Lauren and Jeff have been spending a lot of time together over the last year and especially the past few months. At first it was socially at parties ... here and there. But their time together has definitely seemed to evolve, raising some eyebrows," a source told People in January 2019.

After retiring from the NFL in 2013, Tony Gonzalez went on to become a successful football analyst. He appeared on the likes of "Fox NFL Sunday" and CBS' "The NFL Today," before jumping over to Lauren Sánchez's new man's football venture.

After Jeff Bezos' Prime Video landed the rights to stream NFL games in 2017, Gonzalez scored a gig as an expert on the streamer's "Thursday Night Football" broadcasts. "Right from the beginning, I knew I wanted to do 'Thursday Night Football.' It was a chance to be part of something new. That's the coolest part," Gonzalez told Forbes. But he denied that his extended family ties to the billionaire got him the gig. "No, I wish it was that way. He has nothing to do with that," he said.

But Gonzalez's sports knowledge and experience doesn't only lie in football. From 1994 until 1997, he played basketball for the California Golden Bears. "I could have played in the NBA. I would have put up 1,000 jump shots a day. I've got that type of work ethic," he told ESPN.

Tony Gonzalez clearly doesn't mind working for Jeff Bezos. In a 2019 "Extra" interview, Gonzalez revealed how he really felt about Sánchez and Bezos' then-new romance, sharing, "I'm happy for them. I stay out of their personal lives but it's been great." Gonzalez added of their co-parenting arrangement, "It's great. Lauren, obviously we share Nikko. He's going to college next year, I'm going to miss him." Sánchez hasn't been afraid to gush over her ex, either. In February 2025, she shared a birthday tribute to the ex-football player on her Instagram Stories with the caption (via Daily Mail), "Happy birthday to one of the best dads ever!!!"

Sánchez has also grown close to Gonzalez's wife and mother of two of his children, October Gonzalez. In late 2024, the athlete's wife shared several Instagram photos of the blended family, including pictures of her and Nikko, as well as a snap of her spending time with her husband's former flame. The gang has also been spotted on dinner dates and even vacationed together.

Sánchez spoke to The Wall Street Journal about their bond. "My greatest example is the relationship I have with my eldest son's father, Tony ... I learned how to co-parent with him, so I have more experience than Jeff might have. Tony and his wife [October] are my best friends," she said.