Jeff Bezos has a house rule. No phones in the morning, says partner Lauren Sanchez

The second-richest man on the planet apparently has a rule against the couple using their phones in the morning, his partner told People, preferring that they instead spend some quality time talking. 

“I love waking up. I make myself a cup of coffee. I make Jeff a cup of coffee, and we kind of have this magic moment where it’s just us talking,” she said. “The kids haven’t woken up yet. And we don’t get on our phones. That’s one of the rules.”

Former TV show host Sánchez has three kids. She and Bezos went public with their relationship in 2019, shortly after Bezos’s divorce from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. Bezos and Sánchez got engaged in 2023 when they were on vacation in the South of France, People previously reported. The two reportedly celebrated their engagement aboard Bezos’s $500 million superyacht named Koru, which features a wooden figurehead that resembles Sánchez.

Although Sánchez admits that if it weren’t for the Amazon founder, the helicopter pilot would kick off her day with phone in hand. Still, the proviso has its perks, she added. 

“He definitely made that rule,” she said with a laugh. “It wasn’t me. But the mornings are just us, for as long as we can.”

Sitting and talking with Bezos in the morning without the interference of screens—at least until they’ve had their morning cup of joe—makes all the difference, Sánchez said. 

“My favorite part of the day is the morning,” Sánchez told the outlet. 

He’s one of the most powerful men on earth, but Bezos isn’t one to “rise and grind.” The billionaire has said previously that he sets his first meeting for 10 a.m. and makes sure that he is caffeinated and has read the newspaper (he does own the Washington Post after all). 

“My kind of puttering time is very important to me,” Bezos said in a 2018 speech at the Economic Club of Washington, D.C. 

The Amazon founder, while wildly successful thanks in part to his self-discipline, is also known for his idiosyncrasies. 

In a 2014 interview, e-commerce company Woot founder Matt Rutledge recalled he and Bezos sitting down for some breakfast octopus at a Seattle restaurant. Somehow, Bezos used the curious high-protein, low-fat breakfast seafood as a metaphor for why Amazon was acquiring Woot for $110 million.

“You’re the octopus that I’m having for breakfast … When I look at the menu, you’re the thing I don’t understand, the thing I’ve never had. I must have the breakfast octopus,” Bezos reportedly told Rutledge.