A fond farewell! Sandra Bullock got choked up on Wednesday, Feb. 5 during her final appearance on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno while saying goodbye to the famed host who had invited her to be his guest for more than 20 years.
Leno, 63, is currently celebrating his final week as the host of The Tonight Show, as NBC prepares to welcome comedian Jimmy Fallon to the coveted role.
For Bullock’s final appearance, the standup comedian threw in a few digs at her film flops like Speed 2 and played a montage of the Oscar winner’s ever-evolving hairstyles through the years, declaring he no longer cared considering it was his last week.
But things took a turn for the sentimental when Leno recalled seeing Bullock, 49, for the first time in 1993’s Wrestling Earnest Hemingway, where her small role captivated him.
“I looked at you the way I looked at my wife for the first time,” Leno recounted to Bullock. “You just popped, and I went ‘Oh my God, this person’s going to be a big star.'”
Touched, the Gravity star and single mom then took a moment to sincerely thank the host for his years of work — and kindness.
“I’d like to say something, and I’m going to start crying,” Bullock said through tears. “You’ve always been so kind, and that’s saying a lot in this business because we like to be mean. There’s not been one time when you haven’t treated me like I had something to offer, even when the film was horrible and you knew it. You never let me see it in your eyes. And I just felt special, even when I felt very insecure. And everyone in this room and in this country has felt that every day that you’ve been in their home. And I’ve felt so grateful that I got to be a part of that.”
