Retired NFL player Michael Oher, whose life story inspired the Oscar-winning film “The Blind Side,” has spoken out for the first time following his lawsuit against the Tuohy family.
Oher alleges the Tuohys tricked him into signing a conservatorship when he was 19, claiming it was the same as adoption. He says the family exploited him, using his “name, image and likeness to promote speaking engagements” from which they collected millions, according to the New York Times Magazine.
“For a long time, I was so angry mentally. With what I was going through,” the 38-year-old told the magazine about his strained relationship with Sean and Leigh Ann Tuohy. “I want to be the person I was before ‘The Blind Side,’ personality-wise. I’m still working on it.”
In the film, Quinton Aaron plays Oher, who was an unhoused Black teenager. Leigh Anne, portrayed by Sandra Bullock, and her husband Sean, played by Tim McGraw, take him in and eventually become Michael’s legal guardians, dramatically changing all their lives. They provide him tutoring and other support, and Michael succeeds at school and at his sport. The Times’ 2009 review of the movie called it “high on hope, low on cynicism and long on heart.” But Oher claims the film and the 2006 book it was based on don’t tell the truth of his life.
He filed a petition in a Tennessee court last year claiming that the couple who said they’d adopted him never actually did. On Aug. 14, he submitted a 14-page document to the Shelby County Probate Court, alleging the Tuohys tricked him into signing the conservatorship, which he thought was part of an adoption when they took him in. This document gave the Tuohys the power to make business deals using his name, including those related to the film. Oher says the couple kept nearly two decades’ worth of financial information from him. He accuses the Tuohys of ignoring their legal and financial responsibilities to him.
Oher said he chose not to speak out when the 2009 film was released because he was focused on the start of his professional career with the Baltimore Ravens.
“Pro football’s a hard job,” Oher said in the interview with the magazine, published Sunday. “You have to be locked in 100 percent. I went along with their narrative because I really had to focus on my NFL career, not things off the field.”
The former first-round draft pick also addressed accusations made last year by the couple that Oher had attempted to shake them down for $15 million. The allegation came after Oher filed his suit. Martin D. Singer, the Tuohys’ attorney, said at the time the couple “will not hesitate to defend their good names, stand up to this shakedown and defeat this offensive lawsuit.”
“I worked hard for that moment when I was done playing, and saved my money so I could enjoy the time,” Oher said. “I’ve got millions of dollars. I’m fine.”
Although Oher didn’t attend the movie’s official premiere, he was persuaded to watch it a month after its release. He said it was like watching “a comedy about someone else.” Oher said the film underplayed his intelligence to such a degree that it made his new co-workers question his capabilities.
“The NFL people were wondering if I could read a playbook,” he said. “I started seeing stuff [online] that I’m dumb. I’m stupid. Every article about me mentioned ‘The Blind Side,’ like it was part of my name. … If my kids can’t do something in class, will their teacher think, ‘Their dad is dumb — is that why they’re not getting it?’”
The next hearing in the lawsuit is set for October.