Sandra Bullock is breaking her silence on the death of her partner, Bryan Randall, who passed away in 2023 following his battle with ALS.<\/p>\n
During a recent episode of the SmartLess podcast hosted by Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett, Bullock revealed that Randall asked her to keep his diagnosis a secret.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe asked me not to share. I know why he asked me not to,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig\u2019s disease, is a rare neurodegenerative disease that progressively paralyzes a person as a result of nerve cell death in the brain and spinal cord, according to the ALS Society of Canada. ALS patients will lose the ability to walk, talk, eat, swallow and eventually breathe. There is no cure.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Practical Magic 2\u00a0actor said that the secrecy \u201cisolated me in the process.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy sister was the only one who knew for a while,\u201d she said. \u201cAt first I go, \u2018Oh, I can handle that. I can be quiet.'\u201d<\/p>\n
Bullock said that she started grieving Randall, whom she dated for eight years, \u201cfour years before he passed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy person left a lot earlier than the body left,\u201d the 62-year-old actor continued. \u201cI don\u2019t think I ever dealt with that until after he passed, because you\u2019re just on this treadmill, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
Bullock called ALS \u201cthe process of elimination over the course of a year.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd somewhere you keep going back and they give you all these milestones, these things to do, these grips, these breath tests, all these things,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to quietly plan. And I\u2019m a very good planner with illness,\u201d Bullock said, before discussing that her father had \u201chorrible accidents\u201d and her mother had cancer.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Bird Box\u00a0actor met Randall when\u00a0he was hired to photograph Bullock\u2019s son Louis\u2019 birthday in 2015. The couple was co-parenting their three children \u2014 Bullock\u2019s adopted son and daughter, and Randall\u2019s daughter from a previous relationship.<\/p>\n
She said that she worked with child therapists to help her two children, Laila and Louis, who were \u201ccompletely aware\u201d of Randall\u2019s diagnosis.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey could see, they have eyes. They are very, very astute kids,\u201d she added. \u201cVery astute because they not only see the physical change, there\u2019s a behaviour that changes in all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
When she was asked why it was important to keep the diagnosis a secret to others, Bullock said, \u201cYou\u2019d have to ask Bryan, but I think, where he was in his journey both physically and mentally.\u201d<\/p>\n