Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, the family featured in the Hollywood blockbuster The Blind Side, have responded to the lawsuit filed against them from ex-NFL player Michael Oher, who claims they swindled him out of millions of dollars.
Oher, 37, filed the lawsuit on Monday, alleging that the Tuohys lied to him about adopting him and instead placed him under a conservatorship that gave them control of his finances.
Oher claims that the Tuohys used the conservatorship to profit from the movie The Blind Side, which was based on his life story. In his lawsuit, he claims they received millions of dollars in royalties from the film, but he did not receive any of that money.
The Tuohys have now denied Oher’s allegations, saying the claims have “devastated” the family.
“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, and this would do that legally,'” Sean Tuohy said to The Daily Memphian. “We contacted lawyers who had told us that we couldn’t adopt anyone over the age of 18; the only thing we could do was to have a conservatorship. We were so concerned that it was above board that we made sure the biological mother came to court.”
Tuohy explained that they put Oher under a conservatorship only because they wanted to ensure that he was eligible to play football at the University of Mississippi, where Sean is a booster.
The Tuohys also say that they shared the proceeds from The Blind Side equally with Oher, including an initial payment of $14,000.
“We didn’t make any money off the movie,” Touhy said. “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.
“I will say it’s upsetting that people would think I would want to make money off any of my children,” he added.
The lawsuit is the latest chapter in a long and complicated relationship between Oher and the Tuohys. The Tuohys took Oher in as a teenager and helped him turn his life around. Oher went on to play college football at Ole Miss and in the NFL.
However, the relationship between Oher and the Tuohys began to sour in recent years. Oher has accused the Tuohys of being controlling and not as supportive as they once were. In addition to the allegations of financial fraud, Oher’s lawsuit also accuses the Tuohys of never truly accepting him as part of their family.
“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 legal filing said. “Michael Oher discovered this lie to his chagrin and embarrassment in February 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.”
