Sometimes when celebrities or their loved ones are battling a disease they choose to be very open about it and share their journey with their fans and followers. Other times, people choose to keep their struggles private and only share their battle with close friends and family members.

On August 5, 2023, the family of Bryan Randall, the longtime boyfriend of actress Sandra Bullock, shared that Randall has died at the age of 57. While the news may seem shocking and unexpected to many, it was not that way to those closest to him, including Bullock.

Randall’s family announced the sad news via a statement. In the statement, his family shared, “It is with great sadness that we share that on Aug. 5, Bryan Randall passed away peacefully after a three-year battle with ALS.” The statement continues, “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.”

Randall’s family also thanked the doctors and nurses who helped Randall with his battle with ALS. They wrote, “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.”

In addition, Randall’s family asked “for privacy to grieve and to come to terms with the impossibility of saying goodbye to Bryan.”

According to the ALS Association, “ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.” Over time, people with ALS eventually lose their ability to do things like talk and walk. Eventually, they even lose the ability to breathe. There is currently not a cure.

Bullock and Randall first met when Bullock hired the model turned photographer to be the photographer at her son Louis’s birthday party in January 2015. The couple never got married, and in 2021, Bullock shared that she preferred not to get married again even though she called Randall “the love of my life.” On “Red Table Talk,” she explained, “I don’t need a paper to be a devoted partner and devoted mother.”

Randall’s family does not want mourners to send flowers. Instead, they have requested donations to the ALS Association and Massachusetts General Hospital.

Rest in peace.