Sandra Bullock Opens Up About 'Really Dark Time in My Life' After Jesse James Cheating Scandal

Sandra Bullock made rare comments about a "really dark time in my life" years after her ex-husband Jesse James' cheating scandal.

The Practical Magic 2 actress sat down with her friend Jennifer Aniston for a conversation with Interview, where she opened up about just how difficult that period was — especially as she navigated her divorce while caring for a baby the public didn’t yet know she had.

The two Hollywood legends were discussing Bullock's favorite on-set experiences when she recalled how much she laughed with Hugh Grant while filming Two Weeks' Notice. She then singled out another film that stood out for a much more personal reason.

"The one film that was the most meaningful to me, because it was paralleling where I was, was Gravity," she said of the 2013 movie, whose production coincided with the aftermath of her divorce.

"It was during a really dark time in my life. I was raising and protecting a little smurf while I was trying to grieve, trying to get out of it," she recalled.

The actress became a mom to Louis, now 16, in 2009, via adoption.

"Being locked in a box by myself with no one to talk to for nine hours a day, you do a lot of thinking," she shared.

After she found out about James' cheating and began the divorce process, she wanted to make sure the press didn't violate hers and Louis' privacy.

"I was just cleaning out the closet, and I found these hockey bags for stuffing clothes in for travel," she recalled. "Child Protective Services, do not come after me, but when the p--- hit the fan for me, when, we know what that is, I realized I had to get out of the house because the paparazzi were going to descend, and no one knew I had a newborn."

She continued, "So I put him in his car carrier, put it in the hockey bag, and zipped the hockey bag around him. Then I carried the hockey bag to the car, as though I was just carrying any random hockey bag."

Speaking of protecting her privacy, she shared, "You have to operate like the CIA."

Bullock and James got married in 2005 after first meeting in 2003, according to ABC News. The star was a stepmother to his three children.

In the years that followed, the Proposal actress made many public comments about how much her husband meant to her. Sadly, this all came crashing down when James was accused of cheating by multiple women circa March 2010, per Us Weekly. They finalized their divorce in June of that year. James went to rehab around that time as well "to deal with personal issues" (via ABC News).

Following her divorce from James, now a single mom to Louis, Bullock adopted a little girl named Laila, now 12, in 2015.

That same year, she began dating a photographer named Bryan Randall. The two were together until his tragic passing in 2023 at the age of 57, following a battle with ALS.