The ‘Speed’ actress, who celebrated the milestone on 26 July, has been through a tough year as she was left devastated when her model-turned-photographer partner Bryan Randall died aged 57 in August 2023 after his three-year battle with motor neuron disease ALS.
She said in a birthday message recorded for the ‘Today’ show for her friend Hoda Kotb – who turned 60 on 9 August: “Hoda, Hoda, Hoda, Hoda… I had so many brilliant and funny things prepared for you, for this message, that were just gonna slay it, but you know girl, I’m just too tired!
“Tired because I had to make my way up that mountain before you got there so I could check out the terrain and see what things look like and you know just get the feel so I could fill you in.
“And it’s weird, because people seem to want us to be afraid of what it might look like when we get there.”
But Sandra, mother to Louis 14, and Laila, 11, added about ageing: “It turns out it’s pretty damn great – it’s pretty awesome.”
She then made a string of sweary jokes that were bleeped out of her daytime TV message.
Sandra added to Hoda: “And for (bleeped) like you – can we say (bleeped) in the morning?
“Because I know you can say it in the afternoon, right? You can definitely say it at night and on streaming, but (bleeped), I know you can’t say that.”
Hoda and her co-host Jenna Bush Hager, 42, laughed as Sandra went on: “But when you get to the top of the mountain where you’re getting ready to go, you’re allowed to say it because it doesn’t matter anymore – everything is amazing because you have made it that way.
“Thank you for being so incredible to so many people. What you do for a living and how you have to shapeshift every single day, how you navigate your kindness, even when that’s not what’s coming your way, how you are to those you care about and how you keep them safe, and just who you are as a human being.
“We’re all pretty lucky to have you, especially your kids. So, happy birthday my sweet friend.
“Thank you for allowing me to be in your circle – I feel very grateful and I have your bar set up, up here, so we can look at the view, it’s pretty beautiful, but I need you up here, happy birthday.”
Later Kotb emotionally credited Bullock for inspiring her on an adoption journey. Kotb has two daughters, Haley, 7, and Hope, 4 and Bullock also welcomed her son and daughter through adoption in her late 40s.
“The reason that I have Haley and Hope is because when I was looking for inspiration of somebody who was a mom at my age, Sandra Bullock popped up,” said Kotb.
“I called her and said, ‘Tell me about motherhood,’ And (Bullock) said, ‘It is the best decision I ever made.’ From that moment forward, she led the way to these two girls.”
