LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: A friend of Bryan Randall has opened up about feeling stunned after learning about the photographer dying on August 5. Mia St John claimed that she had no idea Randall was not doing well and had been struggling with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) — a nervous system disease — for the last three years.

The grieving family of Sandra Bullock's partner issued a statement after his death that read, "It is with great sadness that we share that on Aug. 5, Bryan Randall passed away peacefully after a three-year battle with ALS. Bryan chose early to keep his journey with ALS private and those of us who cared for him did our best to honor his request," as per the PEOPLE Magazine.

"We are immensely grateful to the tireless doctors who navigated the landscape of this illness with us and to the astounding nurses who became our roommates, often sacrificing their own families to be with ours. At this time we ask for privacy to grieve and to come to terms with the impossibility of saying goodbye to Bryan," the statement added.

Who is Mia St John?

Mia is reportedly a professional boxer as well as a taekwondo champion, model, and businesswoman, who was married to the late actor Kristoff St John from 1991 to 1995. The 56-year-old is also the mother of two children, a daughter Paris St John and a son Julian St John. However, her son died by suicide in 2014.

Apart from being Mia’s pal, Randall also dated her daughter for a few years. She stated, "I'm just very sorry and in shock because I didn't know he was sick. It's a complete shock. He was in great shape. He was sober. He had been sober for many years, so yeah, it's just shocking," as per The US Sun.

'I hadn't heard from him in over a year'

Mia revealed that she had not been in touch with the model-turned-photographer lately, saying, "I was wondering what had happened to him because I hadn't heard from him in over a year. And so I thought, Well, that's really weird," before mentioning, "He never forgot a holiday, Paris' birthday, the anniversary of my son's (Julian St. John) death - he never forgot things like that. And so it's been a long time and I was thinking, 'God, I hope he's OK. I haven't heard from him.' Now it all makes sense, you know?"

She also went on to disclose what she talked about with Randall during their last chat, saying, "Our last conversations were about Julian and his art gallery that we were doing for a fundraiser. And we did talk about Paris and how she was doing, especially after the death of her father [Kristoff]. And we were texting and he would just ask how I was doing and about the fundraiser. That was it."

Mia then paid her tribute to Randall, calling him "a really good person," who "was so supportive to my kids and he was just an amazing person." She also mentioned, "He was a beautiful person and I'm grateful to have known him."