It was revealed this week that retired NFL veteran Michael Oher is taking legal action against the Tuohy family, who supposedly adopted him. That story was adapted into the 2009 film The Blind Side, which starred Sandra Bullock, Quinton Aaron and Tim McGraw. Oher now alleges that the Tennessee-based brood never actually adopted him but that Sean and Leigh Ann Tuohy “tricked” him into signing a document that made them his conservators. With that, the two were reportedly granted the power to make business decisions on his behalf. Now, in the wake of the petition being filed, Sean Tuohy is responding to the claims that he and his wife exploited the athlete.
All in all, the ex-Baltimore Raven has suggested that his supposed adopted family has made a considerable amount of money off him. The legal petition specifically alleges that the Tuohy’s have specifically profited from royalties generated by The Blind Side. Sean spoke with the Daily Memphian, during which he shared thoughts on the matter. The 63-year-old patriarch expressed sadness over the recent turn of events:
We’re devastated. It’s upsetting to think we would make money off any of our children. But we’re going to love Michael at 37 just like we loved him at 16.
Michael Oher’s petition claims the Tuohys were able to strike a deal that allowed both them and their two natural children to receive income from John Lee Hancock’s movie. It’s alleged that they’ve made millions of dollars as a result of the purported agreement. More specifically, they’re said to be receiving $225,000 each as well as 2.5% of “defined net profits.” However, Sean Tuohy denied that he and his relatives made considerable money off the production:
[We] didn’t make any money off the movie. Well, Michael Lewis gave us half of his share. Everybody in the family got an equal share, including Michael. It was about $14,000, each. We were never offered money; we never asked for money. My money is well-documented; you can look up how much I sold my company for.
With his legal move, the former NFL-er is seeking for the court to revoke the conservatorship and to put an injunction in place that prevents the family from using his likeness and name. He’s also requesting a fair share of the profits and a full accounting of the money the Tuohys have made via his name. It should be noted that this isn’t the first time the baller previously alluded to a conservatorship. He mentioned it in his 2011 memoir, I Beat the Odds, in which he recalled that the couple explained to me that it means pretty much the exact same thing as 'adoptive parents…’” He also noted that “the laws were just written in a way that took my age into account.”
The Tuohy family took in Michael Oher when he was a teenager and, up to that point, he’d reportedly experienced academic setbacks, periods of homelessness and more. Under his surrogate parents’ guidance, he eventually landed a football scholarship at the University of Mississippi, and he was ultimately drafted by the Baltimore Ravens during the 2009 NFL Draft.
The story earned a considerable amount of media attention at the time and, eventually, Warner Bros. Pictures greenlit the movie, based on Michael Lewis’ book of the same name. Aside from being a box office success, The Blind Side was an Oscar darling. For her role as Leigh Ann, Sandra Bullock won Best Actress at the 2010 Academy Awards. Today, some still consider the production to be one of the best football movies of all time.
Since the film’s release, Michael Oher has been candid about its impact on his career. He previously claimed that people began to associate him more with the film than with his skills as an athlete. As of this writing, it remains to be seen whether his petition will be successful in court. If anything, what we can surmise from the documents and the comments made by his alleged adopted father is that both sides have different accounts of this story.
