Sandra Bullock’s partner Bryan Randall passed away after a three-year ALS battle

After all of the crap Sandra Bullock dealt with in her first and only marriage to Jesse James, she kept her romantic life out of the headlines. I didn’t even realize that she had been with Bryan Randall for the better part of eight years, that’s how low-key they were as a couple. They met in 2015 and they were together ever since. Last year, Sandra spoke about needing a break and being “burnt out.” Most of us didn’t blink an eye or think anything of it, but it turns out that she took this break to care for Bryan, who battled ALS in the last three years of his life. Bryan Randall passed away on Sunday.

Sandra Bullock’s longtime partner Bryan Randall died over the weekend, his family revealed in a statement to PEOPLE on Monday. He was 57.

“It is with great sadness that we share that on Aug. 5, Bryan Randall passed away peacefully after a three-year battle with ALS,” his family shared. “Bryan chose early to keep his journey with ALS private and those of us who cared for him did our best to honor his request.”

“We are immensely grateful to the tireless doctors who navigated the landscape of this illness with us and to the astounding nurses who became our roommates, often sacrificing their own families to be with ours,” his family added. “At this time we ask for privacy to grieve and to come to terms with the impossibility of saying goodbye to Bryan,” the statement concluded, signed, “His Loving Family.”

Bullock, 59, first met Randall, a model-turned-photographer, when he photographed her son Louis’s birthday in January 2015. They took their relationship more public later that year, including an appearance at Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux’s wedding.

Bullock, who is mother to her son Louis, 13, and daughter Laila, 10, addressed the topic of marriage during a December 2021 appearance on Red Table Talk.

“I found the love of my life. We share two beautiful children— three children, [Randall’s] older daughter. It’s the best thing ever,” Bullock said at the time. “I don’t wanna say do it like I do it, but I don’t need a paper to be a devoted partner and devoted mother,” she said, adding, “I don’t need to be told to be ever present in the hardest of times. I don’t need to be told to weather a storm with a good man.”

[From People]

This is so sad and so devastating for Sandra. There were photos, over the years, of Sandra and Bryan just doing normal-family things in LA, like going out for some ice cream or taking the kids somewhere. It was a real partnership and more of a marriage, frankly, then that Jesse James bullsh-t. He always sounded like such a solid guy. What an utter tragedy.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red.