- Former NFL lineman Michael Oher, whose life served as the inspiration for the Oscar-nominated movie “The Blind Side,” has filed a lawsuit against the Tuohy family, who took him in when he was 18 years old, claiming they duped him of millions of dollars from the film rights to his life story.
- Nearly 20 years ago, according to Oher, Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy duped him into designating them as his conservators rather than his adoptive parents. The former Baltimore Ravens Super Bowl champion is requesting that the conservatorship be lifted and that any proceeds from the use of his name, including those from the $300 million-grossing movie and the book that served as its inspiration, be fully disclosed.
- The accusations gave a different interpretation to the well-known football film starring Sandra Bullock, which portrayed the Tuohys as a kind and caring family that adopted Oher and supported his success at the University of Mississippi. In the intervening time, the Tuohys have disputed keeping the conservatorship a secret from Oher, said they are “devastated” by claims they made a tidy profit off of his story, and even said through their attorney that he had sought a $15 million payment from them and threatened to go public, according to TMZ.
- According to the petition, the Tuohys and 20th Century Fox signed a contract for “The Blind Side” in which they received $225,000 for the right to exploit Oher’s narrative and 2.5 percent of any “defined net proceeds” for themselves and their biological children exclusively. According to NPR, the complaint claims that even though the picture produced more than $300 million, Oher never received any compensation while Tuohys pocketed millions off of it.
- Additionally, Michael Oher claims that the “Blind Side” movie agreement netted him “absolutely nothing”.
- In February 2023, Michael Oher learned that the Tuohys were under conservatorship. He asserts that the Tuohys required him to sign various forms when he was 18 years old and informed him that it was a necessary step in the “adoption process”. In reality, the papers were conservatorship paperwork that would revoke his legal rights and grant the Tuohy family access to his name and reputation.
- An attorney who was so close to the Tuohy family that Oher was instructed to refer to her as “aunt” filed the conservatorship paperwork. Oher claims that the Tuohys misled him and used his yearning for a secure family life for their own financial gain.
- The Tuohy family’s counsel asserts that before making his charges public, Michael Oher made many attempts to “shakedown” the family for money. In order to get them to pay him, Oher allegedly threatened the Tuohy family with an eight-figure cheque.
- The family of ‘The Blind Side’ is insistent that they divided the money evenly among all members of the family, including Oher, despite the former NFL player’s claims to the contrary. Oher allegedly tried to sue the Tuohy family several times, but according to Marty Singer, no lawyers would take his case because “they saw the evidence and learned the truth.”
- The drama between the Tuohy family and Oher may have been simmering for a while, but things are becoming ugly.
