Sandra Bullock reveals she secretly adopted a daughter

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- Sandra Bullock recently adopted a 3-year-old daughter named Laila.

The 51-year-old actress confirmed as much in an interview with People after months of speculation. Bullock, who initially fostered Laila, kept the news secret to protect the toddler's privacy and compared the process to witness protection.

"Most foster children are in foster care because they were taken from their birth homes under tragic circumstances -- and the last thing I wanted was to bring more harm to her because of the nature of my job," she said of her celebrity.

Bullock is also mother to 5-year-old son Louis, whom she adopted in 2010. She told the magazine her son "spearheaded this whole journey" to adopting Laila, calling her family "blended and diverse, nutty and loving and understanding."

"When I look at Laila, there's no doubt in my mind that she was supposed to be here," she shared. "I can tell you absolutely, the exact right children came to me at the exact right time."

Bullock had gone so far as to deny she had adopted a second child at a press conference for Our Brand is Crisis in October. The actress was as protective while discussing raising Louis in today's racial climate in an interview for the November issue of Glamour.

"You see how far we've come in civil rights -- and where we've gotten back to now," she told the magazine. "I want my son to be safe. I want my son to be judged for the man he is. We are at the point now where if we don't do something, we will have destroyed what so many amazing people have done."

Bullock last starred in Our Brand is Crisis, which opened in theaters Oct. 30. The movie dramatizes the involvement of American political strategists in the 2002 Bolivian presidential election but proved a critical and commercial flop.