BREAKING NEWS: Sandra Bullock Files For Divorce From Jesse James; Secretly Adopting Baby
April 28 2010, Published 9:10 a.m. ET
Sandra Bullock has filed for divorce from her husband Jesse James, RadarOnline.com has learned, and while that news hardly comes as a surprise, this might: Bullock is in the final process of adopting a 3-and-a-half month African-American baby boy named Louis Bardo.
The stunning story, as first reported by People.com, says that Bullock and James quietly began the adoption process four years ago, and brought the infant, who was born in New Orleans, home in January.
"He's just perfect, I can't even describe him any other way," Bullock, who plans on raising the child by herself, told the magazine of her son. "It's like he's always been a part of our lives."
Bullock said she was relishing all of her new motherly tasks.
"You wake up, you feed, you burp, you play, you do laundry," she said. "I'm still at that stage where I'm just amazed at him and at life."
Bullock -- who said she spent much time with James in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina -- said she was drawn to adopt a baby from the bayou.
"It was just a feeling that came instead of bringing another life into the world, that we wanted to reach out and find our child in New Orleans," she told People. "There were so many children alone after Katrina, and for some reason we knew that someone would want to come in our lives... I don't know why there was always something about New Orleans and a child, but I am blessed and lucky that there was.”
Bullock said there was never a preference toward the child's gender, race or background for adoption purposes.
"It didn't matter," she said. "We somehow knew the right little person would come."
One interesting revelation: Bullock and James -- neither of whom are Jewish -- had a circumcision ceremony known as a bris for the baby boy.
"You have never seen adults more panicked about what was about to happen to their son, but the celebration and the amount of love we felt, and pride in the little man whom we love so, so much became the greatest moment I have ever had in my entire life," Bullock said of the ceremony.
Bullock and James had decided to keep the news to themselves until after the Academy Awards, where Bullock, 45, took home the best actress award for her role in The Blind Side.
The very well-kept secret of the pending adoption -- even Bullock says, "I don't know how we got away with it" -- was part by design, as the Oscar-winner admits that she only informed family and friends of the pending adoption, and from there it became "their mission" to stay quiet about the news.
She said that she used decoys and dark cars when traveling with Louis during the heat of awards season, and that during the actual Academy Awards ceremony, one of the baby's tiny socks kept falling out of her designer purse.
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Shortly after the Oscars, news broke that James had been accusing of cheating with several women, including stripper Michelle "Bombshell" McGee, Melissa Smith, fetish model Brigitte Daguerre, former West Coast Choppers employee Merilee Gerth and an unnamed woman who is reportedly being represented by Gloria Allred.
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Bullock told the magazine her first instinct upon learning about the alleged affair -- from a tabloid -- was "to get Louis out of here before the vultures descend.
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"My main concern was Louis," she told the magazine. "I wasn't sure that I could go into hiding deeper than I had already been in, but again, that small group of friends and family to make sure we all had what we needed to heal and be safe and make sense out of all of it.
James, 41, has also been scarcely seen following his separation from Bullock just ten days after the Oscars.
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After spending the last month at Sierra Tucson Rehab Facility in Arizona, he’s back in California, and back to the grind of his everyday life, having been spotted the past two days at his Huntington Beach home and his Long Beach-based West Coast Choppers shop.
"This is not the man I married. This was stupid, this was ignorant."
A remorseful James told the magazine in a statement Wednesday that he hoped the pair could put their differences behind them and continue as husband and wife.
“I know in my heart that I can be the best father possible to my four children and the mate Sandy deserves, and realize that this is an incredible mountain to climb," James wrote. "But I believe the steps I have taken in the last 30 days are the foundation to making this happen.”
Bullock said her relationship with James is now "a bittersweet one," and that she still holds warm feelings for his three children.
Bullock said she was shocked and saddened by the controversial picture of James that popped up online, featuring him wearing a Nazi war hat.
"This is not the man I married," she said. "This was stupid, this was ignorant. Racism, anti-Semitism, sexism, homophobia, anything Nazi and a boatload of other things have no place in my life. And the man I married felt the same; This, I hope, Jesse will address one day, but that is not the world I live in, or have ever lived in and have any tolerance for."
People managing editor Larry Hackett, appearing on The Today Show Wednesday, said that the film star was not bitter, but rather viewed the instances as a positive life lesson from which to build upon.
Bullock, who married James in July 2005, had a stoic take on the crazy course of events -- the pending adoption, the Oscar, the divorce -- that she's experienced in 2010.
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"To say that I am changed is an understatement," she said. "But that might not be a bad thing. I have learned a lot about what I am and what I'm not... maybe I needed this rug yanked out from under me publicly so that I had no choice but to look at what I needed to look at, inside and out... maybe I needed this to be the very best mother to Louis.
"We wouldn't know the sweet moments in life unless we had the pain," Bullock said. "And painfully, I'm going to miss so much."