Sandra Bullock has remained a lot more private about her personal life than most Hollywood stars of her stature, choosing to focus much of her public profile on either her work or her lovable personality. However, her love life in particular made headlines more than ever back in August of 2023 after the tragic passing of her longtime love Bryan Randall following a three-year private battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis aka ALS at the age of 57. Although the actress has refrained from speaking on it publicly so as to maintain her family's privacy.
However, the Oscar winner, 61, recently made a rare public acknowledgement of Bryan's health battle while speaking with Vanity Fair for their interview with one of her closest friends Jennifer Aniston. The pair opened up extensively about their friendship, highlighting Jennifer's ability to bring people into her orbit at a time when female actresses "were told we weren't supposed to do that – meaning like and respect and honor each other."
It also included several anecdotes that touched on not only their shared passions, like numerology and brunches, but also their shared fears, coincidentally including a fear of flying, ironic given their jet-setter lifestyles. Sandra told the publication that they often pushed each other to get outside and live their lives, even taking to the skies at times. "It makes me think, Do I really have to go outside and navigate the world?" she said particularly in reference to their very public identities resulting in incidents like stalking.
"There's the cases where they got into the house, the cases where they're outside the house, the cases where you're on a film set and they figured out where you are, and the cases that no one hears about. It's ongoing. It's not a one-off. And it does create a mindset where your home also unfortunately becomes your fortress."
She added that she and Jennifer, 56, operate with the mindset and motivation of "Okay, we need to go somewhere. Where are we going?" with the Friends actress even joking: "I'm desperately trying not to Howard Hughes myself." It's then the Gravity star opened up about their fear of flying, adding: "The two of us on a plane – it's the most pathetic thing to look at. Usually it's us grabbing each other's arms from across the table with our heads down."
However, in early 2023, a few months before Bryan's passing, Sandra reveals she was "not in a great place," and that was when her close friend decided to come through for her and conquer their fear together. "She just held onto my hand and goes, 'This is just a bump'," with Sandra being so stunned she remembered remarking to Jennifer: "Who the [expletive] are you right now?"
Jennifer explained to the publication that she's still afraid of flying, although has relied on sources like hypnotherapy (linking to her rumored new boyfriend, hypnotherapist Jim Curtis) and calming apps to help, although her biggest solution, she realized, was having an equally fearful friend beside her. "All of a sudden, my fear falls away and I get to take care of them. When there's someone in need of being calmed, I have such empathy for it that all of a sudden my fear goes out the window."
The A-list actresses have been close friends for over 15 years, being introduced by an unlikely source at a CAA party after the Golden Globes – Tate Donovan, a friend to both and also an ex-boyfriend to both. Their rapport was quick and they grew close, with Jennifer spotted frequently out and about with Sandra in 2023 and 2024 in the wake of Bryan's passing, serving as one of the members of her support system.