Sandra Bullock says that after years of preparing her children for the realities they may face as Black kids, she is now learning how to trust them as they begin navigating more of the world on their own.
While promoting Practical Magic 2, the actress spoke to Hoda Kotb about raising her son, Louis, 16, and daughter, Laila, 12. She admitted that she remains “uber paranoid” whenever they leave home because strangers do not know they are her children. They only see the color of their skin.
“I’m uber paranoid, and they will tell you,” she said. “They’re like, ‘Mom, it’s gonna be fine.’ I’m like, ‘It’s not fine. It’s not fine outside.’ The energy that is floating around our country and our world again.”
She continued, “The color of their skin… they’re my babies, they’re my life, but no one knows that when they leave my house. So that is always in the forefront of my mind. I’m now learning to trust them. Where they are now is extraordinary.”
Bullock has been having conversations with her children about race and safety since they were young. In 2021, she revealed that she began talking to Louis about racial profiling when he was just six years old.
“At the age of six, he popped on a hoodie and I was like, ‘We’re going to have a conversation,’” she recalled at the time.
She explained that she wanted Louis to understand early on that people might see and treat him differently because he is Black. Now that both of her children are older, she is reaching the stage where she has to rely on those conversations while giving them more independence.
In a separate interview with Jennifer Aniston published September 8, Bullock also opened up about the influence Laila had on Practical Magic 2. The actress reprises her role as Sally Owens in the sequel, while Joey King plays Sally’s daughter, Kylie.
Bullock said she sees a lot of her own daughter in the character.
“My daughter is very much like Kylie, the character Joey King plays, and you know Laila, she is the fire,” she said.
That similarity made the movie especially personal for the mom of two, who described it as a message to Laila about the times she worries she may not have gotten motherhood right.
“I wanted to give her a love letter of my sorrys. If I failed, if I don’t know how to say the right thing, I apologize,” Bullock said. “I just want to do right by her, to help her be as brave as she already is, and that scares the shit out of me. I’m a fearful person. She is not. She thinks nothing can happen to her because she’s already survived.”
Bullock also acknowledged that her own fears are something she does not want to place on her daughter.
“She is so incredibly brave, and she needs to see a mother who’s not so fearful,” she said
