Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos’s Venice nuptials at the end of June were a veritable Who’s Who? of famous faces, with everyone from Kim Kardashian to Leonardo DiCaprio attending the multiple-day event. One notable absentee from the guest list, however, was Hollywood actress Charlize Theron. And she’s made her thoughts on the subject pretty clear.

At the fifth annual block party for her Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project – which advances and invests in the health and safety of young people in Africa – the 49-year-old told attendees: ‘I think we might be the only people who did not get an invite to the Bezos wedding. But that’s OK because they suck and we’re cool. Thank you for taking the time to be a part of this, especially when the world feels like it’s burning because it is.’

The 2004 Oscar winner then continued, ‘Here in Los Angeles, in the US and across the globe, we’re moving backwards fast. Immigration policy has destroyed the lives of families, not criminals; women’s rights are becoming less and less every day; queer and trans lives are increasingly being erased; and gender-based violence is on the rise. This isn’t just policy, it’s personal.’ As the crowd began to applaud, Theron concluded, ‘Yeah, fuck them!’

Since Donald Trump became president in January 2025, Bezos and Trump have seemingly patched up their differences, which saw Amazon sue the Pentagon in October 2019 alleging that Trump had blocked the $2.33trillion (£1.71tn) company from securing a $10billion (£7.32bn) cloud-computing contract. For his part, Trump referred to Bezos publicly as ‘Jeff Bozo’.

However, cut to inauguration day – which was streamed live on Amazon Prime – and Bezos stood alongside Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerburg as Trump was sworn in to office. Plus, Ivanka Trump and her family, including husband Jared Kushner, were recent guests at Bezos and Sanchez’s star-studded wedding.

Theron isn’t the only person seemingly unhappy with Bezos, 61, and 55-year-old Lauren’s extravagant displays of wealth.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, numerous Venetian organisations took to the streets to protest including housing advocates, anti-cruise ship campaigners and university groups. One group displayed a banner which read, ‘Money cannot buy style’ while another read, ’55 million dollars spent on the wedding just to get a divorce in three days’.

Greenpeace activists also had a large banner in St Mark’s Square protesting against the wedding. It showed an image of Bezos’s face with the caption, ‘If you can rent Venice for your wedding then you can pay more tax.’

On Friday 27th June, Bezos – who is worth a reported $237billion (£173bn) – and Sanchez wed in a private ceremony on the historic San Giorgio Maggiore island in the San Marco sestiere. The ceremony took place in front of 200 guests including the Kardashian-Jenner family (minus Kourtney who has been praised for staying home with husband Travis Barker and their seven kids), a pregnant Karlie Kloss, singer Ellie Goulding, actress Sydney Sweeney, former athlete Tom Brady, actor Orlando Bloom, Leonardo DiCaprio, Bill Gates, Usher, Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King. The latter recently joined Sanchez on an 11-minute flight to Space thanks to Blue Origin, founded by… you guessed it, Bezos.

Sanchez’s wedding dress was a custom Dolce & Gabbana high-necked lace corseted gown with 180 silk chiffon-covered priest buttons dotting the front. It took 900 atelier hours to make and reportedly cost $300,000 (£219k). Mere pennies to Bezos and Sanchez – who apparently has her own net worth of $30million (£21m).

After Sanchez’s dress was revealed on a digital Vogue cover posted to Instagram, American journalist and presenter Katie Couric said of Sanchez’s wedding dress, ‘Welcome to the eighties – when big hair and conspicuous consumption ruled. Apparently tacky is back.’ She has since deleted the comment, but the sentiment seems to echo the views of social media commenters one of whom wrote, ‘[Sanchez] always looks like she’s wearing Shein.’

Sanchez’s sons Nikko, 24, and Evan, 19 – who the journalist shares with ex-boyfriend Tony Gonzales and ex-husband Patrick Whitesell, respectively – reportedly walked her down the aisle, whilst her daughter Ella, 17, was her maid of honour and gave a reading during the ceremony.

The wedding celebrations kicked off on the Thursday with a foam party on Bezos’s $500million (£366m) superyacht. Then on the Saturday, following the ceremony on the Friday, the newly married couple – who got engaged back in May 2023 – held a ‘Dolce Notte’ themed party where guests wore lingerie and pyjamas.

Each guest reportedly got a luxurious gift to take home: Vibi Venezia blue velvet slippers for the men, and black open-toe slippers for the women, as well as a goody bag waiting for them in their hotel rooms. It’s safe to say Theron probably won’t make the cut to the inevitable multi-million dollar vowel renewal either.