Sandra Bullock Opens Up About What It’s Like As a White Mother Raising Black Children

We know Sandra Bullock as a talented actress, but that’s not her only role in life. That’s just her job. While being an actor or actress may be something most of us can’t relate to, her most important role in life is actually something many of us know first hand, the job of being a parent.

Bullock has two children. Both were adopted. Her son, Louis, is 11 years old, and her daughter, Laila, is 9 years old. Both Louis and Laila have black skin while Bullock has very pale skin.

Does it matter if children are a different race than their parents? Does it matter if children have a different skin tone than their parents? It shouldn’t, but Bullock sometimes has those questions in the back of her mind. She told TODAY’s Hoda Kotb, “That was on my mind when they were very, very, very young — is that, will they love me less because I don’t represent their culture?”

Like any mom, Bullock’s children are her world and mean everything to her. Back in 2018, she told Kotb, “So my priorities are my kids, my kids, my kids. My family. My family. That’s it.”

Although her kids are her priority, she still has moments when she thinks it would be easier if they all had the same skin tone. It doesn’t personally matter to her, but she feels it would be easier in the way others view her family. She opened up about this topic on a new episode of Red Table Talk. Watch the video below for more details.

We personally know parents who are raising children with different skin tones. Sometimes it’s through adoption. Other times it’s a mixed race couple with children whose skin tone looks more like one parent’s than the other’s. As this becomes more common, hopefully one day the world won’t view it as any different than a family where everyone shares the same skin tone.

Does it surprise you that Bullock sometimes wishes she and her children shared the same skin tone?