Sandra Bullock Prioritizes Family After Tragic Loss

says her responsibilities as a lone parent outweigh the inevitable pressures that come with mainstream filmmaking. 

The Academy Award winning actress raises son Louis, 16, and daughter Laila, 12, alone following the tragic death of her long-term partner Bryan Randall to Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) in 2023. 

And Bullock, 61, who put her Hollywood career on hold in order to care for Randall during the latter stages of his illness, now structures her work schedule around her children's school holidays. 

Now back in the spotlight with new film Practical Magic 2, the actress says she might never have reprised her role as widowed witch Sally Owens were it not for the convenient timing of her shooting schedule.

'I made this film at this time because I knew my kids were out of school. I’m not going to sacrifice my children’s - my time - with my kids,' she said during an appearance at the CNBC Changemakers Summit in . 

'They’d be happy if I was gone. I would not. It’s true. And I do not do my best work if my children are struggling or if they need something and I can’t facilitate it.' 

She added: 'I’m raising my children, not anybody else. But I have the luxury of doing that in this business. So many people don't.

'And I understand that grief and that angst when you are at work, going, 'I’m not where I need to be right now. I’m here being performative and doing my job.' But guess what? Women can do it. 

'We can do fifteen things at one time and get it done.' 

Practical Magic 2 sees Bullock reunite with co-star Nicole Kidman and - her first promotional came at Las Vegas CinemaCon in April. 

'After everything she went through with Bryan, she needed time to care for herself,' an insider told PEOPLE.

'She spent a lot of time healing, being with her kids and being at home. She needed to ensure that she and her kids were in the best possible place for her to go back to work.'

Speaking to Good Morning America of her hiatus in 2022, Bullock said she 'didn't want to create anything that takes me away from just being present,' 

'I don't want to be doing a lot of things at one time that don't service the one thing that I want to be around - my family,' she explained. 'Because of my job, I have to go away for long chunks during the day. 

'I take them everywhere, but that's a 15-hour day and then you come home and if you're producing you're on calls. They miss you.'

She added: 'I look at my life before my kids and I don't want to say it felt like a waste of time, it just felt like I was rushing to a destination that didn't exist. Now I'm here and I don't want to be anywhere else.'

Her late partner is survived by his 31-year-old daughter Skylar Staten Randall, who previously suffered the tragic loss of her mother Janine Staten and grandmother Perri Johnson in 2007.

Bullock originally met Randall, a professional photographer, in 2015 after hiring him to shoot her son's fifth birthday party. 

'I found the love of my life,' she told Facebook's Red Table Talk in 2021. 'We share two beautiful children — three children [including] his older daughter. It's the best thing ever.'

The Golden Globe winner was thrilled to have another chance at love after she divorced her philandering ex-husband Jesse James in 2010 after nearly five years of marriage.

Practical Magic 2 is released in cinemas across the United Kingdom and the United States from September 18.