The Blind Side, a film about a rich white family adopting a struggling Black high school football player, has been criticized for its white savior tropes since its 2009 release. Now, Michael Oher, the real life football star the film is based off, is saying that the truth is even more upsetting than the fiction with some bombshell allegations against the Tuohy family.
Oher claims that not only did the Tuohy family never formally adopt him, but they tricked him into a conservatorship and have continued to profit off the Sandra Bullock-starring film while he hasn’t seen a dime. On Monday, August 14, Oher filed a 14-page petition in Shelby County, Tennessee, alleging that Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, who took Oher into their home when he was in high school, never formally adopted him.
According to the petition, less than three months after Oher turned 18, Sean and Leigh Anne tricked him into signing a conservatorship, which gave them legal authority to make business deals in his name. This included The Blind Side film. The petition alleges that the Tuohys abused this power and made a deal that gave them and their two birth children millions in royalties from the film, which garnered over $300 million. According to the petition, the movie paid the Tuohys and their two birth children each $225,000, plus 2.5% of the film’s “defined net proceeds.”
Oher says he has not seen any money from the film.
“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 reads, per ESPN. “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.”
Oher is requesting to be released from the conservatorship and for a judge to issue an injunction that would bar the Tuohy family from using his name and likeness. He is also seeking full accounting of all the money the family has made so he can have his fair share of the profits along with compensatory and punitive damages.
“Since at least August of 2004, Conservators have allowed Michael, specifically, and the public, generally, to believe that Conservators adopted Michael and have used that untruth to gain financial advantages for themselves and the foundations which they own or which they exercise control,” the petition says. “All monies made in said manner should in all conscience and equity be disgorged and paid over to the said ward, Michael Oher.”
The Tuohys have not responded to any request for public comment.
The former NFL star just released his book When Your Back’s Against the Wall: Fame, Football, and Lessons Learned through a Lifetime of Adversity, which chronicles conversations he has had with fans who saw him portrayed in the Oscar-winning film. In his third book, Oher offers encouragement and shows readers how to get back up over and over.
Before you go, click here to see movies about real-life Black women who changed history.
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