Sandra Bullock has officially adopted a second child – Laila, a 3½-year-old girl from Louisiana who had been in foster care – the actress tells People.
'When I look at Laila, there's no doubt in my mind that she was supposed to be here,' she says. 'I can tell you absolutely, the exact right children came to me at the exact right time.' Laila joins Louis, Bullock's 5-year-old adopted son. The family appears together on the mag's cover, photographed by Bullock's boyfriend, Bryan Randall:
The actress started looking to expand her family three years ago, she says – and right before Laila's adoption was official, the actress had a real fright because of the paparazzi. She had been trying to keep Laila's adoption secret for the child's privacy. But when she had to make a trip to the emergency room with Laila, a photographer captured them in line 'unbeknownst to me,' Sandra recounts.
'The next day, I learned that a photo of her was being shopped around for sale to every outlet around the world. I had promised and legally agreed to protect her from something like this, and here I was chasing down lawyers—having them begging them to keep her safe... Most foster children are in foster care because they were taken from their birth homes under tragic circumstances—and the last thing I wanted was to bring more harm to her because of the nature of my job.'
Sandra was able to adopt Laila and announce the news on her own ultimately. The long journey was worth it: 'My family is blended and diverse, nutty, and loving and understanding. That's a family.'
Words by Alyssa Bailey
From Elle US
