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The he said, she said battle between former NFL offensive lineman Michael Oher and his foster family growing up has taken a couple of new turns.
Oher, who was the subject of the film The Blind Side starring Sandra Bullock and Quinton Aaron, has claimed over the past several months that the family that took him in as a youth, the Touhys, lied about adopting him with the goal of making money off of him.
Bullock ended up winning an Academy Award for her portrayal of the family’s mother Leigh Anne Tuohy.
The latest twists involve a new interview Michael Oher did with Big Think.
“One of the things that The Blind Side the movie didn’t tell about me is the hard work and the things that I did up until that point,” he explained.
“It got thrown away a little bit, and that’s something, that’s a message that I would like for the young people to know.
“You put your head down. You go out. You meet people halfway. You do what’s right, you stay consistent, find discipline, and you can go out and be successful.”
Also, in the new documentary Blindsided, Oher’s foster brothers Nate and Quwanda Hale disputed that despite how he was depicted in the film, Michael was rarely unhappy.
They also say that a a scene in the movie where Oher tells Leigh Anne Tuohy that he has never had a bed for himself before never happened.
Another testimonial in the documentary given by Quinterio Franklin, one of the Michael Oher’s friends and teammates in high school, said when he walked out of the theater in the middle of The Blind Side when he saw it.
He was especially upset by a scene in the movie where it shows Oher being unable to read and write in high school.
“I’m embarrassed for him as a friend. It’s not accurate and it’s hurtful,” he said.
Michael Oher now claims that Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy tricked him into signing a document making them his conservators and that he made nothing off the film, while they benefited greatly.
Sean Touhy, in response, claimed they “didn’t make any money off the movie” and that Oher has tried to “shakedown” the family for money on more than one occasion.
Who would have thought that a film released in 2009 based on a book published in 2006 would be causing so much drama in 2023?