Sandra Bullock has spoken about her late partner, Bryan Randall, for the first time, following his death at the age of 57 in August 2023.
The American actress, 62, confirmed the tragic news with ‘great sadness’ in a statement at the time but has not spoken publicly about the loss in depth.
Bryan died three years after being diagnosed with ALS, a motor neuron disease that causes increased paralysis.
The couple, who had been together for eight years, did not reveal his illness as she has now revealed he had asked her ‘not to share’.
‘I know why he asked me not to,’ she said on the Smartless podcast but admitted that had ‘isolated her in the process’.
Around half of ALS patients are given a three-year prognosis, although some live for far longer, but Sandra said she was ‘grieving Bryan four years before he passed.’
‘There was something that had shifted’ she said. ‘My person left a lot earlier than the body left. I don’t think I ever dealt with that until after he passed, because you’re just on this treadmill.’
‘And plus the entire world was locked in with a pandemic. It was literally like the final diagnosis, even though he was ill for half of our relationship.’
She explained that the diagnosis came at almost the same time as ‘the cloak of the pandemic’, which saw everyone shut inside to prevent Covid’s spread.
‘I have a child with severe asthma, I was panicking,’ the Practical Magic star recalled. ‘I had two young kids, that were navigating it, especially a little girl who saw him as a father figure…
‘I wasn’t allowed to tell anybody. My sister was the only one who knew for a while. It’s a huge weight.’
Eventually she did tell her close friend Jennifer Aniston, as well as Smartless host Jason Bateman’s wife Amanda Anaka.
In January 2024, Sandra was seen scattering his ashes in the Bahamas to mark his final resting spot.
An insider said at the time that, after the couple first met in 2015, they exchanged their informal ‘vows’ there in 2017 and frequently took family holidays there.
Her sister, Gesine Bullock-Prado had previously confirmed he was also scattered in Wyoming on the banks of Snake River, in a video on Instagram.
On the day that would have been his 58th birthday, she posted: ‘Happy birthday, Bry. Sandy brought you to the river, just as she promised.’
Shortly after her partner’s death, Sandra was reported to be ‘grateful’ for the support she had received and felt ‘happy’ that people had chosen to donate to ALS charities.
An insider told People at the time: ‘It was very important to her that when she and his family made the initial statement of Bryan’s passing, those who were on this journey with her and Bryan, from the beginning, were recognised.’
The couple had met when Bryan, a photographer, oversaw a photoshoot for Sandra’s son Louis, who she adopted in 2010.
They also shared Sandra’s adopted daughter Laila, 12, and an adult daughter named Skylar from Bryan’s previous relationship.