‘Blind Side’ Subject Michael Oher Says Tuohys Made Millions While Lying About Adopting Him
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Michael Oher, whose rise to NFL stardom inspired the hit 2009 film “The Blind Side,” has alleged that the Tuohy family never legally adopted him and that they used their power to make millions off of his story, ESPN reported.
In a petition filed in Tennessee court on Monday, Oher alleges that Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy didn’t adopt him, as depicted in the film, but instead tricked him into signing papers that made them his conservators.
While they were his conservators, he alleges, the Tuohys made millions off of business deals, including the Oscar-winning movie “The Blind Side” starring Sandra Bullock, which was based on the story of the Tuohys, an affluent white family that took in Oher, a Black then-high schooler who was in and out of foster care.
“The lie of Michael’s adoption is one upon which co-conservators Leigh Anne Tuohy and Sean Tuohy have enriched themselves at the expense of their Ward, the undersigned Michael Oher,” the legal filing reads, according to ESPN. “Michael Oher discovered this lie to his chagrin and embarrassment in February of 2023, when he learned that the conservatorship to which he consented on the basis that doing so would make him a member of the Tuohy family, in fact provided him no familial relationship with the Tuohys.”
A representative for the Tuohys did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Oher wrote in his 2011 book “I Beat the Odds” that the Tuohys told him there was no difference between adoption and conservatorship, according to ESPN.
“They explained to me that it means pretty much the exact same thing as ‘adoptive parents,’ but that the laws were just written in a way that took my age into account,” Oher wrote.
The Tuohys were each paid $225,000 for “The Blind Side,” plus 2.5% of the movie’s “defined net proceeds,” according to the legal filing. But Oher’s contract signed away his life rights without any payment, the petition says. Oher has no memory of signing the contract, he claims.
“Since at least August of 2004, conservators have allowed Michael, specifically, and the public, generally, to believe that conservators adopted Michael and have used that untruth to gain financial advantages for themselves and the foundations which they own or which they exercise control,” the petition reads, according to ESPN. “All monies made in said manner should in all conscience and equity be disgorged and paid over to the said ward, Michael Oher.”
