Sandra Bullock opens up about how she felt during the Jesse James cheating scandal that rocked her world sixteen years ago.
Bullock’s marriage to West Coast Choppers founder James, which began in 2005, imploded following news of his 2010 infidelity with tattooed model Michelle ‘Bombshell’ McGee, leading to their divorce.
The Practical Magic 2 star, 62, reflected on the madness that surrounded her at the time while chatting with Jennifer Aniston, 57, for a new profile in Interview magazine.
“The one movie that was most meaningful to me, because it paralleled where I was, was Gravity,” she told Aniston of her 2013 film with George Clooney.
“It was during a very dark time in my life. I was raising and protecting a little Smurf while trying to grieve and get out.”
Daily Mail has reached out to James for comment but has not yet heard back.
Sandra Bullock has opened up about Jesse James’ cheating scandal in a new interview, calling it ‘a very dark time’ as she ‘tried to grieve’
Bullock’s marriage to West Coast Choppers founder James imploded after news of his 2010 infidelity with tattooed model Michelle ‘Bombshell’ McGee, leading to their divorce
Although Clooney was her co-star, Bullock spent much of her time shooting while strapped to an axle rig in an LED light box.
It meant she didn’t have a scene partner and found it quite an isolating experience.
“Being locked in a box alone for nine hours a day with no one to talk to, I think a lot,” she continued.
By the time Bullock filmed her role as an astronaut in Gravity, she was already a mother to her first child, Louis.
She had secretly adopted her son at the end of 2009, but there was extra attention for her after it emerged that James had been unfaithful.
In April 2010, James checked himself into an Arizona rehab center for sex addiction after apologizing profusely to Bullock, although that wasn’t enough to save the marriage.
Joking about how she tried to keep their mother-son moments private, she told Aniston, “I was just cleaning out the closet and I found these hockey bags that you could put clothes in for travel.”
“Child Protective Services, don’t come after me, but when the poop hit the fan in front of me, then, 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.”
The Oscar-winning actress said filming the 2013 movie Gravity was ‘the most meaningful’ because it was ‘parallel’ to where she was in her life
Bullock, seen with son Louis in 2011, revealed how she kept him hidden amid her breakup with James
Bullock further revealed that she put the baby in his car carrier, put it in the hockey bag and zipped it up around him.
She talked about how no one knew about it by carrying it like a regular hockey bag.
“You have to operate like the CIA,” she continued. “If you’re surrounded by good people, you’ll be fine.
“But if people around you mean harm to you, no matter how secretive you are and how much planning you do, your privacy is information that makes them money.”
Bullock added that it happened “recently” and that it broke her heart.
Louis is now 16 years old and Bullock also has her daughter Laila, 12 – who she welcomed through adoption in 2015.
The actress met her longtime partner Bryan Randall in January 2015 when she hired him for Louis’ birthday party.
Randall died in 2023 from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
