Where Is ‘American Idol’ Star Jessica Sanchez Now? Inside Her Life Today

Jessica Sanchez was a semi-finalist on the very first season of America’s Got Talent when she was just 10 years old in 2006. Now, 19 years later, she’s returning to the show for another shot at winning the whole thing.

“Being 10 years old on AGT played such a massive role in me believing in something bigger for myself, for my voice,” Sanchez wrote on Instagram in May, ahead of the show’s Season 20 premiere. “What a huge blessing it is to be able to come back and chase after my dreams again after 20 years. Can’t wait to see what God has in store for me.”

Fans may better remember Sanchez from her appearance on Season 11 of American Idol, though. At 16 years old, she was voted the runner-up of the show, losing to Phillip Phillips.

Ahead of her return to the America’s Got Talent stage, scroll down to learn more about what Sanchez is up to today.

What is Jessica Sanchez doing now?

Sanchez is still pursuing a career in music and will sing for the AGT judges during the Tuesday, July 15, auditions episode.

After her time on American Idol in 2012, Sanchez released her album Me, You and the Music in 2013. She followed it up with a Christmas EP in 2015. Although the singer never put out any full-length albums after that, she continued releasing songs quite regularly until 2022, but never saw much commercial success.

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“Back then, music felt like a job. Now, I’m at a place where music feels like something I’m blessed to be able to do,” she told the San Diego Union Tribute ahead of her AGT audition. She also pointed out that she’s a “completely different” person who’s “grown” and “matured” since her time on Idol.

For the most part, she stepped back from the music business … until now. “Being so young, I sort of got lost in the business a little and I kind of fell out of love with music for a while,” she admitted. “I felt like music became a job where there were requirements I had to meet as a woman in the industry — and as a Filipino woman in the industry — and that there were standards I had to meet.”

Is Jessica Sanchez married?

Sanchez married her husband, Rickie Gallardo, in 2021. The couple met in 2017 and have been together ever since. She opened up about their first meeting during an interview with FYE Channel in 2023.

“This show producer, he rented out a church as a venue. I wasn’t doing a church event, we just used the church as a venue for one of my concerts,” Sanchez explained. “Rickie used to do lights at the church, so when I was singing on stage during my concert, during my show and everything, I guess one of his friends told him, like, ‘Bro, you gotta come back to the church, do some lights, because this girl can sing,’ this and that. So he drove over and he sent me a video on Instagram of him and me in the background on stage, saying, ‘I’m gonna marry you one day,’ and all this stuff.”

Sanchez admitted she wasn’t sure if it was “safe” to spark a conversation with Gallardo. “Usually I would never, ever, ever respond to someone I don’t know, no mutual friends, nothing, but I don’t know … I guess something in me just told me to go for it,” she admitted. “We hung out every day for a month and then we started dating.”

In a 2023 interview with Push, Sanchez opened up about married life and said Gallardo “changed [her] for the better.” She also revealed that her wedding was “very small” and planned “in a couple days” when she and Gallardo realized their pastor was in town. “I loved our little wedding, but, I mean, it was really small,” Sanchez shared. “Not much of his family was there and my family wasn’t there because it was so last minute.”

She said that she and her husband got their rings from Walmart and she bought her dress at the mall.

Does Jessica Sanchez have kids?

Sanchez doesn’t have any kids yet, but she is pregnant with her first child. The San Diego Tribune confirmed the news during Sanchez’s pre-AGT interview.