Report: Michael Oher says he was never adopted, tricked into conservatorship, didnā€™t see ā€˜The Blind Sideā€™ money

Retired NFL player Michael Oher was not adopted by a rich white family as depicted in the 2009 movie ā€œThe Blind Side,ā€ according to a Tennessee court filing obtained by ESPN on Monday. Instead, they allegedly manipulated him to become more wealthy at his expense.

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The petition was reportedly filed in Shelby County, Tennessee, probate court. In it, Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy are accused of taking Oher into their home as a high school student under a conservatorship they tricked him into, which granted them legal authority to make business deals on his behalf.

Oher, 37, is reportedly asking the court to end the Tuohy familyā€™s conservatorship, stop them from using his name and likeness and provide a full account of their earnings from using his name. In addition to unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, he is also reportedly seeking a ā€œfairā€ share of profits. Oher: I didnā€™t receive money from ā€˜The Blind Sideā€™

ā€œThe Blind Sideā€ saw wild success from Oherā€™s poverty-to-Super-Bowl-champ story ā€” but the report says he didnā€™t see any funds from the movie.

The Tuohys are also accused of using that power to negotiate a deal that made them, including their two birth children, millions of dollars in royalties from the Oscar-winning film. They began negotiating a movie deal about their relationship with Oher shortly after the 2006 release of the book ā€œBlind Side: Evolution of the Game,ā€ according to the filing.

Members of the family were each allegedly paid $225,000, plus 2.5% of the filmā€™s ā€œdefined net proceeds.ā€ The film earned more than $300 million.

An additional 2007 contract allegedly gave 20th Century Fox Studios the rights to Oherā€™s story without any payment, according to the filing. He alleges that he doesnā€™t recall signing any such contract or was misled to think he was agreeing to something else. Family lie ā€˜devastated and wounded [Oher] deeplyā€™

Oher was entering his senior year of high school when he signed the papers hoping to join the family he thought cared for him, an experience he detailed in his 2011 best-selling memoir ā€œI Beat the Odds.ā€

ā€œThey explained to me that it means pretty much the exact same thing as ā€˜adoptive parents,ā€™ but that the laws were just written in a way that took my age into account,ā€ he wrote.

He reportedly continued his life under that impression until he retired from the NFL in 2016.

The offensive tackle was drafted with the Baltimore Ravensā€™ No. 23 overall pick of the 2009 NFL Draft after a standout career at Ole Miss. He didnā€™t discover the alleged lie until February of 2023, to ā€œhis chagrin and embarrassment,ā€ according to the filing.

ā€œMike didnā€™t grow up with a stable family life,ā€ his attorney, J. Gerard Stranch IV said in the filing. ā€œWhen the Tuohy family told Mike they loved him and wanted to adopt him, it filled a void that had been with him his entire life. Discovering that he wasnā€™t actually adopted devastated Mike and wounded him deeply.ā€

Beyond the alleged movie deal manipulation, the family has also used the story to promote their foundation. Meanwhile, Leigh Anne Tuohy continues to refer to Oher as her adopted son in her work as an author and motivational speaker. Oher on ā€˜The Blind Sideā€™ stereotypes

While Oherā€™s learning about the alleged funds withheld and fake adoption were major blows, the filing claims that his issues with the Tuohy family began due to how he was portrayed as ā€œunintelligentā€ in ā€œThe Blind Slide.ā€

In his 2011 book, he said he played football well before the Tuohys entered his life and was knowledgeable about the sport. The film relies heavily on the idea that Leigh Anne Tuohy, played by Sandra Bullock, essentially taught him the sport through metaphors about protecting the family.

Oher also wrote that he is more outgoing and cheerful than the character presented by actor Quinton Aaron, who rarely smiled in the movie.

Even in 2015 while playing for the Carolina Panthers, Oher was clear that he didnā€™t like the way the movie followed him throughout his career.

ā€œIā€™m not trying to prove anything,ā€ Oher said via ESPNā€™s David Newton. ā€œPeople look at me, and they take things away from me because of a movie. They donā€™t really see the skills and the kind of player I am. Thatā€™s why I get downgraded so much, because of something off the field.ā€

His most recent book, ā€œWhen Your Backā€™s Against the Wall,ā€ was released last week. In it, he explored the paradox the film created in his life.

ā€œThere has been so much created from The Blind Side that I am grateful for, which is why you might find it as a shock that the experience surrounding the story has also been a large source of some of my deepest hurt and pain over the past 14 years,ā€ he wrote. ā€œBeyond the details of the deal, the politics, and the money behind the book and movie, it was the principle of the choices some people made that cut me the deepest.ā€

Oher has his own foundation, which aims to empower disadvantaged youth by providing them with opportunities through higher education, mentorship and healthy living. Earlier this month, he emphasized the charity will help kids ā€œwhether they play football or not.ā€ Seah Tuohy: ā€˜Weā€™re devastatedā€™

Sean Tuohy spoke to the Daily Memphianā€™s Geoff Calkins on Monday afternoon, and said he and his family are ā€œdevastatedā€ after seeing the reports.

ā€œItā€™s upsetting to think we would make money off any of our children,ā€ Sean said. ā€œBut weā€™re going to love Michael at 37 just like we loved him at 16.ā€

Sean, who reportedly sold most of his fast-food franchises for more than $200 million, also insisted that the money they made off of ā€œThe Blind Sideā€ was minimal and split equally.

ā€œWe didnā€™t make any money off the movie,ā€ Sean said. ā€œWell, Michael Lewis [the author of the book ā€˜The Blind Sideā€™] gave us half of his share. Everybody in the family got an equal share, including Michael. It was about $14,000, each.

ā€œWe were never offered money; we never asked for money. My money is well-documented; you can look up how much I sold my company for ā€¦ The last thing I needed was $40,000 from a movie. I will say itā€™s upsetting that people would think I would want to make money off any of my children.ā€

As for the conservatorship, Sean said that he would ā€œof courseā€ be willing to end it. The only reason they did it in the first place, they claimed, was because that was the only option.

While heā€™s not happy to be defending himself, and he admitted that he felt a distance in their relationship with Oher about 18 months ago, Sean said they are more than willing to do whatever Oher wants.

ā€œItā€™s hard because you have to defend yourself, but whatever he wants, weā€™ll do,ā€ he said. ā€œWeā€™re not in this for anything other than whatever he wants. If heā€™d have said, ā€˜I donā€™t want to be part of the family anymore,ā€™ weā€™d have been very upset, but we absolutely would have done it.

ā€œNo question, the allegations are insulting, but, look, itā€™s a crazy world. Youā€™ve got to live in it. Itā€™s obviously upset everybody.ā€