Lauren Sanchez Bezos once took aim at former President Bill Clinton, who gave her the nickname “Monica,” according to a lawsuit filed by a former friend.
Yoga instructor Alana Zabel said Sanchez had been romantically involved with the former president since they met in 2009. She alleges in her lawsuit that Mr. Clinton gave a friend a cheeky nickname after Monica Lewinsky, the notorious intern with whom he had an affair.
“In her communications with Sanchez, Zabel sometimes used the name ‘Monica’ to refer to Sanchez,” according to the complaint, which alleges that the helicopter pilot stole her idea for a children’s book.
Sanchez, who was married to Hollywood agent Patrick Whitesell at the time, “seemed to like the nickname,” Zabel claims.
“She said[Clinton]was very sexy and seductive,” Zabel separately told the Post.
“She really wanted to meet him and be interviewed… She couldn’t stop talking about Bill Clinton.”
In 2010, Sanchez interviewed Clinton on the TV show “Extra,” and fans noticed the flirtatious exchange between the two at the time.
This personal anecdote is one of several mentioned in a lawsuit filed in federal court in California, which names Sanchez, publisher The Collective Book Studio, and distributor Simon & Schuster as defendants.
Zabel claims that Sanchez’s 2024 book, “The Fly in Space,” copies key elements from her children’s title “Dharma Kitty Goes to Mars,” published a year earlier.
According to the complaint, the two women first discussed the idea of publishing a children’s book together several years ago after Sanchez described flying in a helicopter and having flies stuck to her windshield the entire time. Knowing that Zabel had written numerous children’s books, the two talked about translating the inspiration from that moment into a story.
“It’s paralyzing to watch a former customer have a vendetta against you, marry the richest man in the world, and then take the passion of your heart and act like it’s his own,” Zabel told the Post, referring to Sanchez’s 2025 marriage to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Zabel claims that after years of friendship, she stopped all contact with Sanchez in 2009 after the yoga teacher put her friend on stage on the dance floor at Sanchez’s 40th birthday party.
Zabel alleges in the lawsuit that Sanchez took plot points, story arcs, and themes from her book.
The yogi told the Post that Sanchez may have felt inferior to Jeff Bezos’ novelist ex-wife, Mackenzie Scott, and wanted her to believe that what he did mattered.
Scott wrote the novels “The Trial of Luther Albright” in 2005 and “The Trap” in 2013.
Zabel is seeking unspecified damages for alleged copyright infringement.
However, according to an August 2025 court filing, Sanchez’s lawyers argue that Sanchez’s “allegations are frivolous.”
“The two works are not similar except for the fact that they are both children’s books that involve a spontaneous journey into space,” it reads.
“[Zabelle]doesn’t have the concept of school-age characters unexpectedly traveling back and forth through space.
“(Zabel) attacks Ms. Sanchez with unrelated allegations that Ms. Sanchez is jealous of Plaintiff, “holds a grudge against Plaintiff,” is “looking for revenge,” or is “trolling around” Plaintiff.
“While these allegations are irrelevant to the copyright infringement analysis, they are clearly intended to place this court against Mr. Sanchez in the hope that there will be no smoke without fire. This court should ignore them.”
Representatives for Sanchez declined to comment to the Post about the allegations in the complaint, which have not been proven in court. The lawsuit is ongoing in California.
Zabel previously made headlines after falling out with another former client, singer Adam Levine, and publicly claiming that the Maroon 5 frontman, 45, “treated her like trash.”
