How Sandra Bullock Raises Her Children After Split From Ex-Husband Jesse James

Sandra Bullock adopted at a tumultuous time

Knowing how to eat up a scene doesn’t always equate knowing how to parent well. Sandra Bullock has dozens of awards and nominations to her name, but how does she navigate parenting, especially when factoring her ex-husband, Jesse James?

Bullock, 58, married TV personality Jesse James in 2005. In 2009, the couple entered a custody battle with James’s ex-wife, with whom James had a child. On top of that, in 2010, The Proposal star announced plans to adopt a son, which they both pursued. Not long after the adoption went through, the two had a messy divorce when multiple women claimed they had affairs with James during his marriage. Bullock is now a parent of two, to Louis Bardo Bullock and Laila Bullock. What is her parenting style, and how does James factor into things?

Sandra Bullock and Jesse James stumbled into parenthood

Bullock and James had launched into the adoption process four months before they found themselves divorcing one another. Bullock’s son started living with them in January 2010 but Bullock continued the adoption process as a single parent. By December 2015, Bullock announced she’d adopted a second child, this one a daughter. In terms of her romantic life, she’s been with photographer Bryan Randall since mid-2015.

RELATED: Meet Sandra Bullock’s Two Adopted Children, Louis and Laila

With the timeline playing out how it did, fans of both Bullock and James are curious what exactly this means for their parenting situation.

James had been involved in adopting Louis Bardo Bullock. However, the nature of his and Bullock’s split meant that he split not just from her but from him too – that, he says, was the worst part of their divorce.

“The painful part was about Louis, who we adopted,” he said. “As bad as stuff was between us, we adopted a kid and things got kind of good for a little while and we had that kid to focus on, and, boom, it was over in 24 hours — gone, done.”

Sandra Bullock as a single parent

Sandra Bullock is raising her two children as a single parent, regardless of Jesse James / Suzanne Hanover / ©Hollywood Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection

“I got divorced and lost a kid I adopted because of it,” said James. “Whether that’s fair, whether I should have lost a kid due to infidelity, which I don’t think anybody ever does. But I think with ‘Hollywood Law’ that’s totally fair.”

So, Bullock is classified as a single parent to Louis and Laila both. What does that look like?

Bullock works with her new partner Bryan Randall and she takes the disciplinarian role in the relationship. “I’m the bad cop most of the time. So I take it on. I let Bry be the treat guy,” she revealed. “You know, we all have our place. But I’m the one they want to snuggle and sleep with. My bad cop might not be so bad.”

She’s also a huge advocate for adoption.

“If it wasn’t for adoption and foster care, I wouldn’t have my family,” asserted Bullock on The Kelly Clarkson Show when The Unforgivable came out in 2021. She is acutely aware of the fact that “there are millions upon millions of babies and children on this planet that have no one to love— that have no one to let them know they are the most amazing thing when they walk in a room. There are millions upon millions of adults that wish they could be a parent.” So while raising her own children, she will always advocate for others to adopt as well – while also dropping the clarifier, “adopted kid.” It’s just “our kids,” as far as she is concerned.