Former NFL player Michael Oher, who was the focus of the 2009 blockbuster film The Blind Side, has filed a lawsuit in a Shelby County, Tennessee court against Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy, the people who took him into their home and raised him as a wayward teenager. Oher accuses them of misleading him intentionally regarding his ‘adoption,’ which he claims was a conservatorship instead.
Needless to say, this revelation has completely altered the images of Oher and the Tuohy’s portrayed in the popular film, suggesting that this Christian, kind family may have had other motives for taking Oher into their home.
Oher, now 37 years old, had his attorney file a 14-page document to the court alleging that as a teenager, the Tuohy’s convinced him to sign a document back in 2004 giving them full legal authority over any business decisions he could potentially be involved in, rather than what he believed was an adoption by the family.
Sean Tuohy said in an interview with The Daily Memphis that the accusations of ill-intent and that his family simply wanted to profit off of Oher were ridiculous.
“I sat Michael down and told him, ‘If you’re planning to go to Ole Miss — or even considering Ole Miss — we think you have to be part of the family. This would do that legally,’” he said at the time when Oher believed they were legally adopting him.
“We contacted lawyers who had told us that we couldn’t adopt over the age of 18; the only thing we could do was to have a conservatorship. We were so concerned it was on the up-and-up that we made sure the biological mother came to court.”
Tuohy also stated that the family did not earn the sizable amount of money Oher’s attorneys believe they did.
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“We didn’t make any money off the movie,” he continued. “Well, Michael Lewis, the [author of the book on which the movie was based] gave us half of his share. Everybody in the family got an equal share, including Michael. It was about $14,000, each.”
Touhy, who is already wealthy himself from owning and selling a chain of fast food franchises for upwards of $200 million, claimed that those saying it was all about the money should think again.
“I will say it’s upsetting that people would think I would want to make money off any of my children,” he said.
How much money were the Tuohy's making off 'Blind Side'?@BarstoolRadio w/ Sean Tuohy Jr. pic.twitter.com/gse956sJoF
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) August 14, 2023
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The lawsuit paints a different picture. It states, “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.”
Sean Tuohy Jr., also known as SJ, during an appearance on Barstool Radio on Monday acknowledged the film’s commercial success but contested the alleged figures. He mentioned that over the last few years, he had received an additional $60,000 to $70,000 from the movie’s continuous revenue.
For now, both sides have an opposite view of what went down. The court case and additional statements from each camp should shake out the true details in short order.
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