Sandra Bullock’s 16-Years-Younger Ex Named Her One of His ‘Greatest Girlfriends’ and Taught Her ‘To Chill’

• Sandra Bullock once dated a much younger co-star in the early 2000s.
• The pair started seeing each other on the film set but didn’t go public with their relationship.
• Hollywood was blamed for the couple’s short-lived relationship.

One Hollywood couple many may have forgotten about is Sandra Bullock and a younger fellow actor. The pair met in the early 2000s on the set of a 2002 movie before dating for almost two years and then quietly breaking up.

Bullock and this partner never confirmed their relationship when they were dating. However, nearly eight years after breaking up, Ryan Gosling finally admitted they once dated.

It seemed the former couple had been in love during the short-lived relationship, even though they never discussed it at the time. Bullock once sat down for an interview addressing rumors of her dating Gosling.

Gosling and Bullock met in 2001 while filming “Murder By Numbers.” At the time, the actress played the role of Cassie Mayweather, a homicide detective, while working very closely with Gosling’s Richard Hayward, a high school genius who committed murder with a classmate.

The two stars hit things off despite Gosling being an upcoming star while Bullock had already been in the acting industry for over 15 years. They started dating after they’d completed shooting the movie and went on a press tour. The actress was 37 and 16 years older than the younger star at the time, and their age gap made their relationship questionable.

The first time they were seen together, and indirectly confirmed they were dating, was in May 2002 in Cannes at the “Murder By Numbers” premiere. The pair seemed quite affectionate and close as they posed for images on the red carpet.

The public and media were convinced the duo was dating, but the couple never confirmed the rumors. In a February 2003 interview, Bullock seemed to hint about their relationship when questioned about being falsely linked to Gosling by the press.

When the star was asked why many people fall in love while on set, she explained how film sets are “the greatest dating service on the planet, adding, “You take two people who normally can’t leave the house, who don’t know if people are with them for the right reasons, and they get paired up because they have chemistry, and they happen to fall in love.”

When asked if she thought a man and woman with great chemistry could never remain friends, Bullock confessed that she has a “hard time” maintaining a neutral relationship in such circumstances. The actress encourages both parties to go for it if they were single and wouldn’t be hurting anyone.

However, she advised walking away if one was committed, especially if they had a moral background. It’s okay to admit to the attraction, but there should be no contact after.

Bullock also dated Mathew McConaughey at one point and told the press they were “just friends” despite them dating, so when asked if she was seeing Gosling, she replied:

“Let me see if I can answer that politically and correctly. We’re friends.”

The star further said that adding the word “just” would make it a lie. When asked what she learned from her co-star, she said he taught her “to chill,” as opposed to the manic life she leads, and to disregard all unimportant things. She also described him as “like a little Buddha.”

At the time of her interview, Bullock wasn’t a mother yet because she believed she wasn’t in the right place to be “the right partner.” The actress shared how she couldn’t fulfill the list of things she demanded from the right person, so she couldn’t expect that from someone else.

Gosling believes both relationships ended because he and his girlfriends work in Hollywood.

Some of the things she wanted to see in a partner were confidence, a bit of cockiness but with modesty, humility, and artistic flair. She also emphasized the need for a sense of humor, so she can be challenged and not become bored.

Although Bullock and Gosling never confirmed their relationship while they were in it, they did confess when it finally ended. The younger actor later blamed outside forces for their relationship’s conclusion.

Bullock and Gosling have never revealed why they didn’t discuss their relationship publicly. However, in 2011, the latter finally confirmed that he and the actress dated from 2002 until 2003, almost making it to two years.

When the pair ended things, they also didn’t reveal why, but Gosling later blamed the entertainment industry being the reason they failed to progress. In her 2003 interview, Bullock admitted that she hadn’t always been easy to date and that most of the time, she was the problem.

The actress confessed to being loud and not wanting someone who was the same. She noted how she liked strong people who made her “feel small,” someone who helped without her needing to ask because she found satisfaction in letting go.

In a 2011 interview, Gosling acknowledged two important girlfriends in his life, believed to be Sandra Bullock and Rachel McAdams. seemed, when he confessed, “I had two of the greatest girlfriends of all time.” He also admitted, “I haven’t met anybody who could top them.”

The star believed those relationships ended because he and both girlfriends worked in Hollywood. He blamed the breakups on show business, saying it was “the bad guy,” taking the light out of everything so nothing else could grow.

Regardless of the value he placed on his relationship with Bullock, Gosling and Bullock have moved on with other partners. Gosling is currently in a long-term relationship with another actress, Eva Mendes, with whom he has two children.

For her part, Bullock divorced her first husband in 2010 and was in a long-term relationship with the photographer Bryan Randall before he sadly passed on a few weeks ago after battling ALS privately for three years. Bullock has two children.