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Topics: Amazon, Jeff Bezos, Money, Books, US News
Emily Brown
Topics: Amazon, Jeff Bezos, Money, Books, US News
Jeff Bezos' fiancée Lauren Sánchez has been named by her former yoga instructor in a new lawsuit accusing her of 'betrayal and theft'.
The lawsuit against Sánchez, who got engaged to the Amazon CEO in May 2023, was filed by Alanna Zabel after Sánchez released a new book, The Fly Who Flew To Space.
The children's book was announced by Sánchez in January 2023 before being released publicly earlier this month.
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The book has a rating of 4.9 stars on Amazon, but one person who's taken issue with it is Zabel, who has claimed the book features a number of similarities to her own book, Dharma Kitty Goes to Mars.
In the suit, which has been seen by TMZ, Zabel claims she reached out to Sánchez in 2022, after previously working as her yoga instructor from 2007-2010.
Zabel claims she contacted Sánchez to discuss a book concept about a cat which flies to Mars, saying they had previously discussed teaming up to write a book.
Zabel went ahead with the story and published it in late 2022, but has now claimed that the 60 percent of the content and story of Sánchez's book is similar to her own.
The yoga instructor said in the lawsuit she's experienced 'betrayal and theft', which has caused her severe emotional harm, and that the similarities between the two books are an attempt at retaliation after Zabel resigned from working as Sánchez's yoga instructor.
Zabel alleged she left the position due to what she described as Sánchez's 'continual and outrageous acts of jealousy'.
She further claimed Sánchez 'has always demonstrated a desire to appear like [Zabel], an authentic, independent, free-spirited, hard working and public service oriented yoga instructor'.
Zabel doubled down on her claims in a post on Instagram this week, when she took to her Story to share a picture of her book cover and wrote: "Buy the original."
She also included a cartoon-style drawing of a woman labelled as Lauren Sánchez holding a book which read: "I stole her hard work."
Meanwhile, Sánchez has been promoting her book on a recent tour, during which she spoke about the teacher who helped support her when she was in school.
Speaking about the emotion attached to the book, Sánchez said: "I figured [out] why I keep crying. It’s the eight-year-old girl that thinks she’s dumb and the 54-year-old woman hugging her and saying it’s going to be OK. And that’s what this book is about."
Last night (September 18), Sánchez announced that her book had made the New York Times Best Seller list.
UNILAD has attempted to reach out to a representative for Sánchez for comment.