In 2010, Sandra Bullock received a life-changing phone call: "Your placement is here," said the voice on the other end.
A few weeks later, she was on stage accepting her first Oscar for her role in The Blind Side, but her heart was elsewhere.
"All I wanted was to go home and feed Lou," she said of her newborn, whom she had waited years to welcome into her life.
Read on to discover more about this remarkable actress and her journey to adopting two children.
In 2005, Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on Louisiana, flooding the state. This tragedy stirred something within Sandra Bullock, inspiring her decision to adopt.
"Katrina hit New Orleans, and something inside me said, 'My child is there.' It was an inexplicable feeling," Bullock shared in an interview with Today's Hoda Kotb.
Years later, in January 2010, Bullock received the call she had been longing for.
"He was unexpected and unplanned. One day, I got a call saying, 'Your placement is here,' years after I had filed," the 59-year-old Speed star told CBS News.
Meeting Lou
Reflecting on Louis Bardo Bullock, the three-month-old boy from New Orleans she adopted in secret in 2010, Bullock said, "I looked at him and thought, 'Oh, there you are.' It felt like he had always been a part of my life," she recalled. "He fit perfectly in my arms. He looked into my eyes with a wise gaze. My child was wise."
The Miss Congeniality star added, "People always told me, 'The perfect child will find you. You will find your child.' But it’s hard to believe that when it’s not happening. When you're wondering, 'Where is my family?' But when it finally happens, you understand exactly what they meant."
Just weeks after Lou's arrival, Bullock was on stage at the Kodiak Theatre, accepting her first Oscar for her role in The Blind Side.
Yet, her mind was at home with Lou.
"All I could think about was, 'He’s at home.' I didn’t care about being there; I just wanted to go home. I was sewn into my dress and had to figure out how to get out of it, but all I wanted was to go home and feed Lou."
Shortly after, her marriage to reality star Jesse James fell apart, leaving Bullock a single mother to an infant.
Bullock said, "So much happened. How do you process grief without affecting your child? Newborns absorb everything you’re feeling. My duty was to Lou and ensuring his first year wasn't tainted by my grief."
'Louis Took Center Stage'
"No one understands how priorities shift until they have a child," Bullock said of her transition from career to motherhood. "It’s a natural shift...he arrived, and now, Louis took center stage."
Growing up in a loving, nurturing environment, little Lou once told his mom, "I’m going to have a baby soon."
Although Bullock hadn't planned on expanding her family, she listened to her son.
"I realized he might know something. Looking back, it was around the time Laila was born," Bullock said. "Louis has a strong will. He's a natural leader, and he led me to Laila."
Laila, who was in foster care in Louisiana, joined the family in 2015 when she was three.
Recalling Laila's trauma from foster care, the Ocean’s 8 star said, "She'd hide in the closet with all her clothes on or sit on a bookshelf, always ready to leave," Bullock recalled, ensuring Laila always knew she wasn't "going anywhere."
She shared a conversation with Bryan Randall, her partner and father figure to her children from 2015 until his passing in 2023 due to ALS. "My partner told me, 'When she’s been with us longer than she hasn’t, we'll see a change.'"
He was right. Recently, Bullock described Laila as "unafraid."
"She’s a fighter, and that’s why she’s here today. She fought to keep her spirit intact. I can’t wait to see what she’ll accomplish. She’s going to make a real difference."
Lou, now 13, "is super sensitive...He’s wise and kind," the Bird Box star told People. "I saw that when they handed him to me. There was a spiritual depth to him."
Despite fans' disappointment, the versatile actress is scaling back her work to focus on being a single mother again.
Bullock's recent roles were in 2022's The Lost City with Channing Tatum and Bullet Train with Brad Pitt.
"I can be creative and part of a community, but right now, my work in front of the camera needs to take a pause," she said.
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