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Former professional football player Michael Oher first gained fame as the subject of the 2009 feature film The Blind Side starring Sandra Bullock and Quinton Aaron.
The film depicted Oher’s life from being a down and out teen to an All-American left tackle for Ole Miss thanks in large part to the people who adopted him, Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy.
In 2015, Oher admitted, “I don’t like that movie.”
He claimed that the film caused him to constantly be judged and it had hurt his career.
Fast forward to 2023 and Michael Oher is still dealing with the aftereffects of The Blind Side.
On Monday, it was reported that Oher has gone to court claiming the Tuohy family lied about adopting him just so they could make money off of him.
In a petition filed with a Tennessee court, Oher says Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy actually tricked him into signing a document making them his conservators, giving them legal authority to make business deals in his name, ESPN reported.
He also claims that as a result of being tricked, the Touhy family made millions of dollars in royalties from The Blind Side while Oher got nothing.
“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 petition reads. “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.”
Monday afternoon following the allegations being made public, Sean Tuohy spoke with the Daily Memphian.
“We’re devastated,” said Tuohy. “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.”
He also claimed that the family “didn’t make any money off the movie.” They were only paid for Michael Lewis’ book which inspired the film.
Oher’s petition, however, claims the Touhy family (including the two children) were each paid $225,000, plus 2.5% of the film’s “defined net proceeds.”
If true, The Blind Side, which grossed more than $300 million at the box office and millions more in home video, made the entire Touhy family very, very rich.
Oher, on the other hand, claims a 2007 contract (which he doesn’t remember signing) gave away the rights to his life story “without any payment whatsoever.”