After Man Trouble, Sandra Bullock's Boy Brings Joy

Adopted son Louis is lone boy in actress' extended family

Sandra Bullock has had plenty of man trouble recently, but she's thrilled to have  certain boy in her life.

The Oscar winning star told the "Today" show's Matt Lauer that Louis, the New Orleans-born boy she adopted even as her painful breakup with tattooed motorcycle mogul Jesse James played out in the tabloids, is her "little Cajun cookie."

"We don't have any boys in our family," Bullock said. "Boy, is everyone really happy about that. So, he's like the crown prince. You know, it's nothing but girls in our family," Bullock said. "I mean, my cousin in Germany has one son -- no boys. Can you imagine how miserable our father is? I mean, every pet was female. But it was just the hierarchy that needed to be broken."

Bullock, who recently helped cut the ribbon on a health clinic she helped fund in a New Orleans high school, said finalizing the adoption was a long process, but that she didn't use her star power to get special treatment.

"I did not circumvent," Bullock told Lauer. "I wanted to do everything exactly the same way everyone else did. And -- it was -- he was always mine, you know. It wasn't like I felt like someone was going to take him away. But it was nice to have someone say, I think you're a fit parent. ... I think, everything works out the way the universe wants it to work out."

The adoption surprised many, because the process had begun before revelations of James' infidelity led to their breakup. The two became estranged, but while the tabloids chased down James' paramours, Bullock quietly continued the process of adopting Louis. She said her close friends helped her keep the secret.

"I read something like, how did someone keep a secret, and it's -- you know-- human beings exist that have integrity that know how to keep their mouth shut. That know the bigger picture, that don't sell out their friends," Bullock said to Lauer. "Those people are all over the place. But again, we don't like to talk about it, because it doesn't sell a magazine. But I was blessed with the same friends I've had since before things got really special for me and blessed in life."

As for the health clinic she helped establish in the Warren Easton Charter High School, Bullock told Lauer she simply called school board member Arthur Hardy and asked how she could help. She said she had become aware of the work Hy and his peers had done in opening the school following Hurricane Katrina.

"They did it with such power and love and integrity," Bullock said. "Integrity. There's so much integrity here. And I've never been around that much integrity."

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