Former NFL player Michael Oher, whose story inspired The Blind Side, has filed a complaint against Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy and says he was never adopted by the family, they made millions off him while he received nothing and other shocking claims.
Filing a petition in a Tennessee court on Monday, Oher said the pair didn’t adopt him but instead tricked him into signing a document and made themselves his conservators.
According to the complaint, the couple used their authority as conservators to earn a large profit from The Blind Side, which raked in more than $300 million at the box office. Oher said he got nothing for a story “that would not have existed without him.”
“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 states according to 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 demanding the court to stop the Tuohys’ conservatorship. He is also asking for the court to block the pair from using his name and likeness. Additionally, the former football player is asking to receive his share of the profits.
“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 states. “All monies made in said manner should in all conscience and equity be disgorged and paid over to the said ward, Michael Oher.”
According to Oher, who signed the conservatorship papers when he was in high school, the Tuohys said adoption and conservatorship means pretty much the exact same thing, but the laws were just written in a way that took his age into account.
Oher would have been a legal member of the family if the Tuohys adopted him and he would have been able to control his own finances, ESPN reported. However, Oher didn’t have that power under the conservatorship according to the outlet.
The Tuohys and their two birth children each earned $225,000 from The Blind Side, in addition to getting 2.5% of the film’s “defined net proceeds,” the petition states. The Tuohys, however, previously said they only received a flat fee for the movie and they didn’t make profits.
