Sandra Bullock opens up about Bryan Randall's death

Sandra Bullock spent four years grieving Bryan Randall before he died.

The Practical Magic 2 actress' partner lost his three-year battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in August 2023 at the age of 57, and she admitted it was particularly hard to cope with the degenerative condition because her "person" wasn't there for some time before he passed away.

Speaking on the SmartLess podcast, she told hosts Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett: “Where he was in his journey, both physically and mentally, I started grieving Brian four years before he passed. There was something that had shifted.

“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.”

The 62-year-old actress - who has adopted children Louis, 16, and 13-year-old Laila - also opened up about how she understood why Bryan wanted her to keep his "traumatic diagnosis" private, but it ultimately left her feeling isolated.

"At first I go, 'Oh, I can handle that. I can be quiet. I don’t wanna harm others because of what I do. So I think not talking for a while was good.

"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.

"The diagnosis came almost at the same time with the cloak of the pandemic. So as the pandemic came down, and I have a child with severe asthma, I was panicking.

"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, for a while. It's a huge weight."

Sandra eventually confided in two close friends, Jason's wife Amanda Anka and The Morning Show star Jennifer Aniston because managing Bryan's symptoms and raising her kids amid the pandemic became a "trifecta that was pretty dark.”

She added: "'I had to release a film at the same time and talk about gray. I saw myself on the red carpet and I was like, you just look at my face. And I am, I'm a woodblock."