Actress Sandra Bullock's longtime partner Bryan Randall has died at the age of 57 after a silent battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.
"It is with great sadness that we share that on Aug. 5, Bryan Randall passed away peacefully after a three-year battle with ALS," his family said in a statement to People. "Bryan chose early to keep his journey with ALS private and those of us who cared for him did our best to honor 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," his family continued.
The family asks for privacy as they come to terms with "the impossibility of saying goodbye to Bryan."
Randall was a photographer hired to take pictures at Bullock's son's fifth birthday party, and sparks flew, according to Hello Magazine. They have been dating since 2015.
Bullock and Randall kept their relationship under wraps for the most part.
In a 2021 interview on "Red Table Talk," Bullock said Randall was the love of her life.
"He's the example that I would want my children to have," she said.
Together the pair have three children — Bullock's adopted kids Louis and Laila, and Randall's daughter Skylar from a previous marriage.
ALS is "a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord," according to the ALS Association.
Overtime, people with the disease become unable to control muscle movements, and may lose the ability to speak, eat, move and breathe.
