Left: FILE – Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy stand on a street in New Orleans, Feb. 1, 2013. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File). Right: FILE – Baltimore Ravens offensive tackle Michael Oher sits on the beach during the first half of an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills in Baltimore, Sunday, Oct. 24, 2010. (AP Photo/Nick Wass, File). Oher and the Tuohys rose to fame with the 2009 movie “The Blind Side.”
In a response to the lawsuit filed against them, the Tuohy family submitted receipts that shows they paid “The Blind Side” subject and former NFL offensive lineman Michael Oher over $130,000 in proceeds from the movie that portrayed his life and made all of them famous.
As Law&Crime previously reported, Oher in August filed a lawsuit against his so-called adoptive parents, Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, who took him into their home as a high schooler when he was living on the streets of Memphis. The petition alleges that the Tuohys lied to Oher when he signed what he thought were adoption papers but was actually a conservatorship that allowed the Tuohys to control his financial decisions. The Tuohys have reaped the financial benefits of the film’s success and his notoriety with him gaining nothing, the lawsuit alleges. It seeks to terminate the conservatorship the Tuohys have over Oher, which they have since done voluntarily.
But copies of receipts provided by the family apparently refute his claim he received no money from the 2009 film, for which Sandra Bullock won an Oscar for her portrayal of Leigh Anne Tuohy.
“This accounting being filed represents received funds by Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy for proceeds from the movie ‘The Blind Side,”” the filing by Tuohy attorney Randall J. Fishman states. “By agreement between the family members including Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, their children SJ and Collins and as well as Michael Oher, the book and movie proceeds were split five ways. These funds represent funds paid to Mr. Tuohy and the portion paid over to Mr. Oher.”
Fishman also writes that the Tuohys never received money as Oher’s conservators nor had any control over any funds or dealings on his behalf.
“In fact, the Tuohys spent tens of thousands of dollars of their own money to support Mr. Oher during his high school years,” Fishman wrote.
The filings show Sean Tuohy was paid about $500,000 from the film, about a third of which went to Oher after a 10 percent commission. The Daily Memphian reports the commission was paid to the Creative Artists Agency. A synopsis shows 10 payments made from the Tuohys to Oher from 2007 through this year.
Oher, now 37, grew up in the housing projects of Memphis and became a ward of the state’s ill-equipped social system that lost track of him, “leaving Michael to live on the streets, taking care of himself as best he could” with “spotty to non-existent” formal education, the petition states. With the help of the father of a friend, Oher was admitted to the elite Briarcrest Christian School in the summer of 2002. Because of his large size — he would eventually grow to 6’4” and 315 pounds — and athleticism, he excelled in football and basketball.
It was at the school where he met the Tuohy family, who began allowing him to stay at their home because he had such a long commute to school.
The petition says Oher would occasionally spend the night at the Tuohy home along with other classmates the summer before his senior year in 2004. The book and movie portray the Tuohys as a family motivated only by the desire to help a young man in need. By way of example, a scene in the movie depicts Leigh Anne Tuohy, as portrayed by Bullock, demanding her husband turn their car around so they can give a ride to a rain-soaked Oher.
But the motivations were not so pure, Oher’s petition alleges.
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“Where other parents of Michael’s classmates saw Michael simply as a nice kid in need, Conservators Sean and Leigh Ann Tuohy saw something else: a gullible young man whose athletic talent could be exploited for their own benefit,” the petition said.
Sean Tuohy Jr. told Barstool Sports that wasn’t the case and the family never foresaw Oher becoming a professional athlete.
As the summer progressed, Oher began spending more time at the Tuohy household and Leigh Ann Tuohy began to buy him clothes. In July of that year, Oher turned 18, but the Tuohys had yet to legally adopt him.
“Despite this inaction, the Tuohys did tell Michael they loved him and that they intended to legally adopt him,” the petition states. “Michael believed them, was delighted to be part of a real and stable family, and trusted Mr. and Mrs. Tuohy completely. The Tuohys encouraged Michael to refer to them as ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad,’ and Michael happily complied.”
After Oher moved in with the family full time, the Tuohys presented him with “what he understood to be legal papers that were a necessary step in the adoption process.” Instead, the papers were actually a “Petition for Appointment of Conservators” that was filed in August 2004 which gave the Tuohys control of Oher’s ability to enter any contracts without their approval, the lawsuit alleges. Over the years the Tuohys have “enriched” themselves and their foundation while using Oher’s likeness, the petition states.
“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 reads. “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 with no familial relationship with the Tuohys.”
Not long after the book “The Blind Side: Evolution of the Game” by Michael Lewis was released in September 2006, the Tuohys began negotiating with 20th Century Fox to make a movie based on the book, the lawsuit said. The family negotiated “for themselves and natural born children” a contract of $225,000 plus 2.5% of net proceeds for the movie which made $330 million, the petition stated.
The lawsuit claims there is another contract that Oher “purportedly signed” which gives away his life story “without any payment whatsoever.” Oher said he’s unsure if he actually signed the agreement, the petition states.
The petition seeks to prevent the Tuohys from using Oher’s name, image and likeness and requests the Tuohys pay back “all sums of money” gained from Oher back to him.
After a career with the University of Mississippi, Oher was drafted in the first round of the 2009 NFL draft signing a five-year, $13.8 million contract with the Baltimore Raven. He played in the NFL until 2016.
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