How the Very Rich Really Live, From Billionaires' Row to Lauren Sánchez Bezos

How the Very Rich Really Live, From Billionaires' Row to Lauren Sánchez Bezos

September 8, 2026 · 50 min

About this episode

Amy Chozick discusses her experiences profiling polarizing women and her new novel about a broke mom in Manhattan who discovers her friend is a high-end escort to billionaires.

Amy Chozick has spent her career writing about polarizing women — she covered Hillary Clinton for The New York Times, profiled Elizabeth Holmes right before prison, followed Stormy Daniels for Vogue, and wrote the widely dissected profile of Lauren Sánchez Bezos. Her new novel, With Friends Like You (https://amzn.to/4yjRlvI), follows Emily, a broke new mom in Manhattan, who goes looking for the college friend who vanished — and finds her working as a high-end escort to billionaires. To write the book, she researched the world of the ultra-rich obsessively. She also reveals what surprised her about Lauren Sánchez Bezos, discusses the detail everyone rehashed from that profile, and more. CHAPTERS 00:00 Introduction 02:00 A new mother, a missing friend, and a billionaire's escort 4:00 Billionaires' Row and the empty towers 13:00 Covering Hillary Clinton, and what power does to people 17:00 Profiling Lauren Sánchez Bezos 23:00 "They stopped apologizing" — the new rich 30:00 Hillary's suits, Lauren's taped-up Vogue pages 41:00 Is fashion getting tackier? Subscribe to the Back Row newsletter: https://www.backrow.net/subscribe Buy With Friends Like You: A Novel: https://amzn.to/4yjRlvI…

People in this episode

Host: Amy Odell

Guest: Amy Chozick

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Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The New York Times, Vogue

Books & works: With Friends Like You

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