What Sandra Bullock Wishes About Her Life With Her Children

Sandra Bullock knew she wanted to be a mother since she was a child, but it wasn't until the age of 45 that she turned it into reality. In April 2010, "The Blind Side" star announced she had adopted a 3-month-old baby boy named Louis, as People reported at the time. Those months marked a defining moment in her life. Bullock also announced in April 2010 that she was ending her almost five-year marriage to Jesse James, according to People. Even though Bullock and James had started the adoption process as a couple, the divorce proceedings specified that Bullock would be raising Louis as a single mother and that James would not be involved, the report detailed. Five years after welcoming Louis into her life, Bullock adopted a second child, a 3-year-old girl named Laila, People reported in December 2015. 

When Bullock turned 40, she believed her chance at motherhood had passed, she said in an interview with TODAY's Hoda Kotb in June 2018. "And then [Hurricane] Katrina happened ... and I knew. Something told me that my child was there," Bullock said amid tears. The adoption process took more than four years, but Bullock said it was worth every second. "I looked at him like, 'Oh, there you are.' It was like he had always been there," Bullock explained. Louis was also the one who inspired Bullock to adopt Laila.

Louis and Laila transformed Bullock's life, but the actor recently revealed she wishes they had one thing in common. 

In a clip shared on Tuesday, November 30, ahead of the Wednesday episode of "Red Table Talk," Sandra Bullock opened up about the challenges that come with being a white mother to two Black kids. "To say that I wish that our skins matched, sometimes I do. Because then it would be easier on how people approach us. And I have the same feelings as a woman with brown skin being her babies or a white woman with white babies," she told co-hosts Willow Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith and Adrienne Banfield-Norris. Bullock added that the issue goes beyond adoption and boils down to society's preconceived notions of what families should look like. "Maybe one day that will go away. Maybe one day we will be able to see with different eyes," she said.

Since becoming a mother to two adopted children, Bullock has been a vocal advocate for the cause and is especially passionate about promoting the adoption of children in foster care. In a May 2018 interview with InStyle, Bullock denounced the slowness with which the government has implemented changes to the foster care system and expressed her dislike for the term "adopted" children. "Let's all just refer to these kids as 'our kids.' Don't say 'my adopted child.' No one calls their kid their 'IVF child' or their 'oh, sh*t, I went to a bar and got knocked-up child.' Let just say, 'our children,'" Bullock told the magazine.