In 2010, Sandra Bullock received a life-changing phone call. The voice on the other end said, “Your placement is here.”
Just weeks later, she was on stage accepting her first Academy Award for The Blind Side, though her thoughts weren’t on the win.
“All I wanted was to go home and feed Lou,” she reflected, speaking about her long-awaited son.
Read on to learn more about this extraordinary actress and the journey that led her to adopt two children!
In 2005, when Hurricane Katrina caused massive flooding in Louisiana, Bullock felt an intense pull toward adoption.
“When Katrina hit New Orleans, I just felt my child was there,” she told Hoda Kotb on Today.
Fast-forward to January 2010, and Bullock received the long-awaited call.
“It came completely out of the blue,” she shared with CBS News. “Years after applying, I got the call: ‘Your placement is here,’” recounted the Speed star, now 59.
Filled with joy, she described meeting her son, Louis Bardo Bullock, a three-month-old from New Orleans. “When I saw him, I thought, ‘Oh, there you are,’” she said. “It felt like he’d always been part of my life—he fit perfectly in my arms, and his gaze was wise beyond his years.”
The Miss Congeniality actress reflected, “I was always told, ‘The right child will come to you,’ and it’s true. But when it doesn’t happen right away, you wonder, ‘Where is my family?’ That’s when you really understand.”
“At the awards, all I could think was, ‘He’s at home,’” she shared. “I didn’t care about anything else. I just wanted to get out of my dress and go home to feed Lou.”
Only days later, her marriage to reality star Jesse James ended, leaving Bullock a single mom.
“So much was happening,” she said. “How do you handle sadness without letting it affect your child? Newborns feel everything you feel. My focus was on [Lou] and making sure his first year wasn’t filled with my sadness.”
“People don’t realize how your priorities shift until you have a child,” she added. “It just happens… Louis came into my life, and now he’s the center.”
In a sweet moment, little Lou once told her, “I’m going to have a baby soon.”
Although Bullock hadn’t planned on expanding her family, her son’s words sparked something in her.
“Looking back, it was around the time Laila was born,” Bullock noted. “Louis is a natural leader, and he led me to Laila.”
Laila, who was in foster care in Louisiana, joined the family in 2015 at three years old.
Sandra described the challenges Laila had faced. “She’d hide in closets with her clothes on or climb onto bookshelves, ready to flee,” she said, but Bullock assured Laila she wasn’t going anywhere.
Sandra also recalled a conversation with Bryan Randall, her partner and father figure to her children, who passed away in 2023. He had once said, “Once Laila’s been with us longer than she was without us, you’ll see a change.”
He was right. Recently, Bullock shared that Laila had become “fearless.”
“She’s a fighter, and that’s why she’s here,” Sandra expressed. “She’s determined and resilient—just wait to see the impact she’ll have.”
Now 13, Lou is sensitive and wise, Sandra noted. Their first meeting felt like a profound connection, as if he held an “old soul.”
Though fans might miss seeing her onscreen, Bullock is stepping back from acting to focus on raising her children.
Her recent roles include The Lost City with Channing Tatum and Bullet Train with Brad Pitt.
“I can still stay creative and active in my community,” she explained, “but right now, I need a break from acting.”
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