diff --git a/mealie/db/models/_model_base.py b/mealie/db/models/_model_base.py
index f278a5147..00da8ece6 100644
--- a/mealie/db/models/_model_base.py
+++ b/mealie/db/models/_model_base.py
@@ -14,11 +14,15 @@ from ._model_utils.datetime import NaiveDateTime, get_utc_now
 NORMALIZE_PUNCTUATION = string.punctuation.replace("'", "").replace('"', "")
 _NORMALIZE_PUNCTUATION_TABLE = str.maketrans(NORMALIZE_PUNCTUATION, " " * len(NORMALIZE_PUNCTUATION))
 
-type PrivateColumn[T] = Mapped[Annotated[T, mapped_column(info={"private": True})]]
-"""
-A `Mapped` attribute with metadata `private=True`.
-Signals to the query filter API not to allow using this field in query operations.
-"""
+
+class PrivateColumn[T]:
+    """
+    Drop-in replacement for `Mapped[]` that marks a column as private.
+    Private columns cannot be used in query filter expressions.
+    """
+
+    def __class_getitem__(cls, item: type) -> type:
+        return Mapped[Annotated[item, mapped_column(info={"private": True})]]
 
 
 class SqlAlchemyBase(DeclarativeBase):