Sandra Bullock is opening up about the devastating loss of longtime partner Bryan Randall, revealing that her grief began years before his death as she watched ALS slowly take away the man she loved.
“I started grieving Bryan four years before he passed,” Bullock said during an emotional appearance on the SmartLess podcast. “My person left a lot earlier than the body left.”
Randall, a photographer and former model, died in August 2023 at age 57 following a private three-year battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. Also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, ALS is a progressive neurological disease that attacks nerve cells controlling voluntary muscle movement, eventually affecting a person’s ability to walk, speak, eat and breathe.
Throughout Randall’s illness, Bullock remained publicly silent because that was what he wanted.
“I wasn’t allowed to speak about it,” she said. “That was the request and I tried — I honored it.”
Bullock said she understood Randall’s desire for privacy, but carrying the weight of his diagnosis was especially difficult during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It isolated me in the process,” she said.
For a time, Bullock’s sister, Gesine Bullock-Prado, was the only other person who knew about Randall’s diagnosis. Bullock eventually confided in a small circle of close friends, including Jennifer Aniston and Amanda Anka, the wife of SmartLess co-host Jason Bateman.
Bullock and Randall met in 2015 and went on to build a blended family. Together, they co-parented Bullock’s children, Louis and Laila, as well as Randall’s daughter, Skylar, from a previous relationship.
As Randall’s condition worsened, Bullock wasn’t only dealing with her own fears and grief. She also had to help her children understand what was happening to someone they loved.
“I had two young kids that were navigating it, especially a little girl who saw [Randall] as a father figure,” she said.
Bullock became one of Randall’s primary caregivers and learned to quietly prepare for what might come next.
“You have to quietly plan,” she said. “And I’m a very good planner with illness.”
The Oscar-winning actress said serious illness itself didn’t frighten her. Her mother battled cancer, while her father suffered serious accidents. But watching Randall’s health decline while raising two young children brought a different kind of pain.
Bullock also praised the four “incredible” nurses who helped care for Randall and supported the family during his illness.
When Randall died in 2023, his family announced that he had “passed away peacefully after a three-year battle with ALS,” explaining that he had chosen early on to keep his diagnosis private.
In the years since his death, Bullock has largely focused on healing and caring for her children before returning to work. She is now promoting Practical Magic 2, which arrives in theaters Sept. 10.
But her reflections on Randall reveal just how much was happening away from the cameras.
“I don’t think I ever dealt with that until after he passed,” Bullock said of her grief, “because you’re just on this treadmill.”
For Bullock, losing Randall wasn’t a single moment in August 2023. It was a loss that unfolded over years — first through the relentless progression of ALS, and then through the grief of saying goodbye.