Sandra Bullock is reflecting on her “incredibly hard” experience with adoption and the foster care system.
via: Essence
It might be more common than ever before for notable white figures to adopt Black children (Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman did it, as have Charlize Theron, Madonna, Katherine Heigl, Mariska Hargitay and more), for those who have, they’ve still dealt with questions and criticism
In the new episode of Red Table Talk, airing Wednesday, Sandra Bullock shared her own thoughts about the experiences she’s had after adopting two Black kids — son Louis and daughter Laila. When asked what she says to people who ask why she chose to adopt a Black boy and girl as a white woman, she made it clear that she doesn’t have anything to explain.
“No one would say that to my face,” she says in an exclusive clip airing Wednesday, December 1 at 9am PT / 12pm ET on Facebook Watch. “But guess what? You get the racism. There’s been…sure, a lot of it. Guess what? Not my problem. Your sickness is not my problem.”
But that’s not to say that she hasn’t been impacted by it. The actress did say that there have been times where she wished some things were different — like her skin.
“To say that I wish our skins matched, sometimes I do. Because then it would be easier on how people approach us,” she said during the episode. “But I have the same feelings as a woman with brown skin being her babies or a white woman with white babies.”
Still, negativity aside, she said she couldn’t be happier to be their mom.
“I love who they are,” she said. “Every day I get to see who they are. I am one of the lucky individuals that gets to be around my children all the time and see who they get to grow up and be. And who they’re growing up to be, I couldn’t be more proud of.”
The star announced in 2010 that she adopted infant son Louis while married to ex-husband Jesse James. In 2015, she adopted 3-year-old Laila. She appeared on the cover of People magazine with both children (faces covered) in December of that year.
“My family is blended and diverse, nutty, and loving and understanding,” she said at the time. “That’s a family.”
You can watch the full interview below.
