Lauren Sánchez Takes Trip Down Memory Lane with High School Yearbook Page Showing Her Real First Name

Mar. 15, 2025

Lauren Sánchez in Albuquerque, N.M.Photo:lauren sanchez/instagram

lauren sanchez/instagram

Lauren Sánchezis sharing a sweet series of photos featuring her hometown!

The Emmy-winning former news anchor posted anInstagramcarousel on Tuesday, Sept. 17, of her book tour stop for her new children’s book,The Fly Who Flew. But her recent appearance was especially sentimental as she visited her hometown of Albuquerque, N.M.

In Sánchez’s post, she shared a peek at her childhood home with her father as the two smiled arm and arm outside the New Mexico house.

In the following photo, Sánchez, 54, pointed to one of her yearbook school portraits — alongside her other classmates. She revealed in her Instagram caption that one of her teachers arrived at a promotional event and brought the yearbook.

The snapshot of Sánchez’s school days shows her first name is Wendy. PEOPLE confirms Lauren is the philanthropist’s middle name.

Lauren Sánchez Sept. 17, 2024 Instagram.lauren sanchez/instagram

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The author added a photo of herself eating a Blake’s Lotaburger burger at the Southwest fast food chain. In other images, she photographed a stuffed animal toy of her book’s main character, Flynn the Fly, and more.

In her final photos, Sánchez shared pictures inside a bookstore, posing beside her father and a cardboard cutout of Flynn the Fly, as well as a sweet photo of Sánchez reading her book to a crowded room of children.

Several people commented on her post, comparing how she looked in her yearbook photo to her daughter, Ella, 16. She sharesElla and son, Evan, 17, with ex-husband Patrick Whitesell. Sánchez also shares sonNikko, 23, with her ex-boyfriend, former NFL player Tony Gonzalez.

Sánchez’s new book follows a fly named Flynn who isn’t the best at school but is still curious about life. During one of her adventures, she accidentally gets trapped in the cockpit of a rocket that’s going to space.

While Flynn’s unexpected venture proves to be more than she could’ve ever hoped for, she learns about space, Earth, and why it’s important to protect it.

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Sánchez previously told PEOPLEhow her own life experiences inspired the book.

“I was flying with my kids and a fly somehow got into the cockpit of the plane. My kids were like, ‘Oh no, this poor little fly is separated from his family!’ And I was like, ‘I don’t know, she gets to see the world from a completely different perspective,' " Sánchez recalled.

“So that sparked this fun story in my mind, that even the smallest among us can experience incredible adventures,” she added.

The Fly Who Flew to Spaceis now available in bookstores and online.

source: people.com