Sandra Bullock's partner Bryan Randall dies after battle with fatal neurological condition

Los Angeles, Aug 8 (IANS) Hollywood actress Sandra Bullock's partner Bryan Randall has died at 57 after a three-year battle with ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

Randall's family announced the news of the model-turned-photographer's death in a statement.

"It is with great sadness that we share that on Bryan Randall passed away peacefully after a three-year battle with ALS," his family said.

"Bryan chose early to keep his journey with ALS private and those of us who cared for him did our best to honour his request."

 "We are immensely grateful to the tireless doctors who navigated the landscape of this illness with us and to the astounding nurses who became our roommates, often sacrificing their own families to be with ours," they said.

The family further asked for "privacy to grieve and to come to terms with the impossibility of saying goodbye to Bryan", 'The Hollywood Reporter' stated.

The 'Miss Congeniality' star and Randall began dating in August 2015 after Bullock hired him to photograph her son Louis' birthday that year. (Bullock adopted son Louis in 2010 and daughter Laila in 2015.)

However, it wasn’t until October of that year that the pair made their red carpet debut at the premiere of Bullock’s film 'Our Brand Is Crisis'.

Though Bullock lived her life in the public eye as one of Hollywood’s most successful movie stars for decades, she is known to be private about her personal life. She did, however, open up a bit about her relationship with Randall during a 2021 appearance on Facebook Watch’s Red Table Talk opposite Jada Pinkett Smith.

"I found the love of my life. We share two beautiful children - three children, (Randall’s) older daughter. It’s the best thing ever,” Bullock said at the time. “I don’t wanna say do it like I do it, but I don’t need a paper to be a devoted partner and devoted mother. I don’t need to be told to be ever present in the hardest of times. I don’t need to be told to weather a storm with a good man.”

“He’s the example that I would want my children to have. I have a partner who’s very Christian and there are two different ways of looking at things. I don’t always agree with him, and he doesn’t always agree with me. But he is an example even when I don’t agree with him", she added.

Bryan shared adult daughter Skylar Staten Randall with his previous partner.

Randall, from Portland, Oregon, worked as a fashion model for luxury brands like Hugo Boss and Saint Laurent before a career transition led him to become a photographer.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as ALS and Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a progressive neurological illness that is always fatal. Randall’s family is suggesting donations be made to the ALS Association and Massachusetts General Hospital.