Inside Sandra Bullock’s tragic life — partner’s death, stalker hell and cheating husband

The death of Sandra Bullock’s partner Bryan Randall marked a devastating moment in the life of the Hollywood superstar, one that has already seen its fair share of tragedy.

After a career that has spanned more than 30 years, last year Bullock announced she was taking a break from acting.

The 59-year-old admitted she was “so tired” and had decided to step out of the limelight to spend more time with her family.

READ MORE: Sandra Bullock’s partner Bryan Randall dies aged 57 after secret health battle

What she didn’t reveal at the time was that her long-term partner, who sadly died over the weekend, had been struggling with ALS.

The actress’s career has seen her star in lighthearted films including Miss Congeniality, The Proposal and Two Weeks Notice.

But she’s also taken on a fair amount of much more dramatic roles in films such as Bird Box, Gravity and The Unforgivable.

It turns out Sandra’s real life is much more similar to the dramatic roles she’s played, with the actress experiencing a series of tragedies including a terrifying home invasion, horror plane crash and messy divorce.

Long-term partner’s death

The latest tragedy in Sandra’s life is the death of her long-term partner, Bryan Randall.

The 57-year-old model-turned-photographer passed away on Saturday after a private three-year battle with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

An emotional statement shared by his family read: “It is with great sadness that we share that on August 5, Bryan Randall passed away peacefully after a three-year battle with ALS.

“Bryan chose early to keep his journey with ALS private and those of us who cared for him did our best to honour his request.”

They said they were “immensely grateful” to the doctors and nurses who had helped the family during his illness and added: “At this time we ask for privacy to grieve and to come to terms with the impossibility of saying goodbye to Bryan.”

Sandra first met Bryan in 2015 when he was the photographer for her son’s birthday party in January.

Later that year they went public with their relationship and the couple went on to raise three children together, including Sandra’s two adopted children and Bryan’s daughter, Skylar, from a previous relationship.

During a 2021 appearance on Red Table Talk, Sandra opened up about their romance and why they didn’t feel the need to get married.

“I don’t want to say do it like I do it, but I don’t need a paper to be a devoted partner, devoted mother. I don’t need to be told to weather a storm with a good man,” she explained.

Stalker and home invasion

Before meeting Bryan, Sandra was a victim of a terrifying home invasion by a stalker obsessed with her while alone at her home.

Joshua Corbett, 42, was convicted in 2017 after he broke into the actress’ Hollywood home back in 2014.

During the trial, the court heard Sandra’s chilling 911 call she made the moment she realised what she initially thought was “wind blowing” was actually an intruder.

“I’m in my closet. I have a safe door. I’m locked in the closet right now,” the terrified actress could be heard saying.

When they arrived at the scene, police discovered Corbett still inside the home and arrested him as he grasped a notebook with a handwritten letter and pictures of Sandra.

He was sentenced to five years probation, made to seek treatment at a mental health facility and was ordered to stay away from Sandra for 10 years.

But in May 2018, police arrived at his home to serve an arrest warrant after he missed one of his court dates.

Corbett barricaded himself inside his home and a SWAT team was called in to attempt to convince him to hand himself in.

During the five-hour negotiation, Corbett threatened to kill anyone attempting to enter the building and when authorities finally did gain access, they discovered him dead from a gunshot wound.

Sandra later opened up to Willow Smith, Jada Smith and Adrienne Banfield-Norris on Red Table Talk about the terrifying ordeal, revealing her son luckily wasn’t in the house.

She said: “It was the one night that our nanny goes, ‘Let me just take him to my apartment, which is up the street, because you’re gonna be out late.’

“Had he been home, I would’ve run to the closet, which is now my official closet, but it was his bedroom and it would have changed our destiny forever.”

Sandra called the invasion a “violation” which changed her life: “I wasn’t the same after that. I was unravelling. I haven’t been alone since the day it happened.”

Terrifying plane crash

Sandra’s home invasion wasn’t the first time she’d been left terrified for her life. Back in 2000, she was involved in a horrifying plane crash on board a chartered business jet.

The plane had been attempting to land in reduced visibility conditions on December 20 when it crashed — leaving the aircraft severely damaged.

The nose had completely come off the plane, the right wing was partially torn off and the left wing was bent.

But miraculously, Sandra, another passenger and two crew members walked away from the crash unscathed.

It’s believed the pilot’s view of the runway was so impaired that they mistook ground lights for different lights that indicate the middle of the runway.

Ex-husband’s infidelity and custody battle

Before finding love with Bryan, Sandra was married to automotive mechanic and TV personality Jesse James.

She met the West Coast Choppers founder, 54, while touring the set of his show Monster Garage and they tied the knot in 2005.

During their marriage, the couple fought for custody of Jesse’s daughter, Sunny, after they alleged her mother, Janine Lindemulder, was an unfit parent due to drug binges.

Janine is an actress turned adult movie producer who was released from prison in July 2009 after being put behind bars due to a $200,000 tax invasion charge.

In her application for the child’s custody, Sandra wrote: “While in Janine’s care, sometimes Sunny is left alone during the day while her mother is asleep from drug use.”

But five years after getting hitched, Sandra and Jesse’s marriage crumbled after a very public cheating scandal when multiple women came forward in March 2010 claiming they’d had affairs with Jesse.

The couple divorced and Jesse later admitted to cheating, telling the Daily Mail in 2017: “I did cheat on my wife, yeah, I stood up and took accountability for it and apologized. And that’s the end of story.”

Adoption struggles

Just weeks before her split from Jesse amidst the revelation of his infidelity, Sandra had adopted her first child, Louis.

In a March 2022 interview with CBS, she revealed she’d started the adoption process years earlier.

“He was unexpected, he was not planned, I got a call one day, ‘Your placement is here,’ and that’s years after having filed it, years,” she recalled.

But she struggled to protect the new baby from her crumbling marriage.

She added: “So much had happened. How do you process grief and not hurt your child in the process?

“It’s a newborn, they take on everything that you’re feeling. So, my obligation was to him and not tainting the first year of his life with my grief.”

She went on to continue with Louis’s adoption as a single mother and in 2015 she adopted her second child, Laila, through the foster care system.

During her 2021 Red Table Talk she revealed she’d taken classes on how to raise children with trauma before the second adoption.

“She’d be in the closet with all her clothes on, she’d be on a bookshelf, she’d be hiding, she’d always be ready to leave,” the actress recalled.

She also revealed she’d had frank and honest conversations with her children, who are Black, about race from an early age.

She added: “To say that I wished our skins matched… sometimes I do because then it would be easier on how people approached us.

“I have the same feelings as a woman with brown skin and it being her babies, or a white woman with white babies. Maybe one day we will be able to see with different eyes.”

Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk