While Sandra Bullock and Bryan Randall largely kept their eight-year relationship out of the spotlight, the Oscar winner previously gave a snapshot of their life together.
A little over one year before the photographer's passing on August 5 after a three-year battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, the Miss Congeniality star praised Bryan for how he adjusted to life in a high-profile relationship.
"His whole life had been unraveled because of me," Sandra on Facebook Watch's Red Table Talk in late 2021. "He was so happy, but he was scared. I'm a bulldozer. My life was already on the track and here's this beautiful human being who doesn't want anything to do with my life, but [is] the right human being to be there."
Describing Bryan as "very patient" and "a saint," Sandra added, "He's evolved on a level that is not human."
Bryan—who had a child from a previous relationship—entered the actress' life just as she was adopting her second child, her daughter Laila, now 11, in 2015 and he easily stepped into a parental role for her kids. (The pair started dating after he was hired to photograph her now-13-year-old son Louis' fifth birthday in 2015.)
"He's the example I would want my children to have," Sandra noted. "I don't always agree with him and he doesn't always agree with me, but he is an example even when I don't agree with him."
And despite not always seeing eye to eye, The Blind Side star was more than happy to let her kids turn to him.
"If that is where they feel drawn to," she said, "then he's the exact right parent to be in this position."
Bryan's family confirmed his passing at age 57 in an Aug. 7 statement.
"It is with great sadness that we share that on Aug. 5, Bryan Randall passed away peacefully after a three-year battle with ALS," they told People. "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."
And in addition to asking for privacy while they cope with this immense loss, the statement also included a message of gratitude for Bryan's care team.
"We are immensely grateful to the tireless doctors who navigated the landscape of this illness with us," his family continued," and to the astounding nurses who became our roommates, often sacrificing their own families to be with ours."
While Sandra hasn't spoken out following her longtime love's passing, her sister Gesine Bullock-Prado reflected on the couple's relationship and shared how the 59-year-old helped care for him during his ALS battle.
"ALS is a cruel disease," she wrote on Instagram August 7, "but there is some comfort in knowing he had the best of caretakers in my amazing sister and the band of nurses she assembled who helped her look after him in their home. Rest in peace, Bryan."
"I'm convinced that Bry has found the best fishing spot in heaven," she added, "and is already casting his lure into rushing rivers teaming with salmon."