Get to Know Sandra Bullock and Her Two Kids Louis & Laila 

She Keeps Her Kids Away from the Paparazzi

Bullock had quite the shakeup with photographers when first adopting daughter Laila. 

“When you adopt a child,” the mother-of-two told InStyle, “there’s a placement period, and if something goes sideways, they have the right to take the child away. It’s a tenuous, strenuous six months. We had an allergy scare that sent us to the ER, and we were followed by the paparazzi, so the word was out that I had another child. And everyone wanted photos. It was heartbreaking. Louis would hear a helicopter or drone, and he’d run to get his sister and drag her across the lawn and hide her under the trampoline. So poor Laila had PTSD. But it took the bounty off once we did those official photos. Everything’s a learning experience.”

She Doesn’t Have Social Media

When asked about joining apps like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, Bullock joked that might not be the best idea: “Oh god, I would have one glass of rosé and be spouting off like [slurs voice], ‘This is not the truth!’ I would have the ‘nuh-uh’ column,” the actor joked.

And even though she has never participated Bullock says she’s definitely not out of touch. “I’m not ignorant of what’s happening out there,” she said. “I look over people’s shoulders, going, ‘What is that little vignette of a cat on a fan?'”

She Doesn’t Think of Her Kids as Adopted 

“Let’s all just refer to these kids as ‘our kids’, Bullock said in an interview. Don’t say ‘my adopted child.’ No one calls their kid their ‘IVF child’ or their ‘oh, shit, I went to a bar and got knocked-up child.’ Let just say, ‘our children’.”

She’s an Activist

While speaking about her work with Time’s Up the actress shared that she’s doing what she can to help women stay safe.

“It’s about the single mom who’s been abused, bullied, and sexually harassed and is just trying to make every day safe. I also love All Raise, which has partnered with Time’s Up to help close the gap on funding for women and minorities in technology,” the actress said in an interview with InStyle.

“It’s our duty to do whatever we can to help. I can safely say there is not one person I know who hasn’t experienced some form of [harassment] or doesn’t know someone [it’s happened to]. It happened to me when I was 16. And you’re paralyzed to a degree, thinking, ‘Will anyone believe me?’ And at that time? No. Up until recently, it was the victim who was shamed, not the perpetrator. But just like with this [points to the TV], we can do peaceful protests and utilize the media. We’re raising our children to be fearless. At least I hope I’m raising my kids that way.”

She’s Super Selective About Her Roles

Bullock, who told People she’s “having fun just being a mom,” and that “It would have to be something extraordinary that would be a life experience for myself and my boy because he comes with me,” she said about her role in 2015’s Our Brand Is Crisis.

She Has a Special Tradition Before Leaving the House

“[Louis and I ] turn on the music really, really loud before we leave the house, and the rule is you have to dance a little bit before you step out in the world because it changes the way you walk,” Bullock told students at the Easton charter school in New Orleans. “It changes the way you walk out in the world.”