‘Blind Side’ Star Says Family Enriched Themselves at His Expense - Articles

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‘Blind Side’ Star Says Family Enriched Themselves at His Expense

Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Aug 14, 2023

Retired NFL star Michael Oher, whose supposed adoption out of poverty by a wealthy, white family was immortalized in the 2009 movie "The Blind Side," told a Tennessee court last week that a central element of the story was a lie concocted by the family to enrich itself at his expense. The 14-page petition, filed in Shelby County Probate Court, alleges that Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, who took Oher into their home as a high school student, never adopted him. Instead, the petition says, the couple tricked him into signing a document making them his conservators, which gave them legal authority to make business deals in his name, including millions of dollars from the movie. Oher is now petitioning the court to end the conservatorship and bar the Tuohy family from using his name and likeness. ESPN has more on the story. The Daily Memphian reports that Sean Tuohy responded to the allegations saying, “We’re devastated. It’s upsetting to think we would make money off any of our children. But we’re going to love Michael at 37 just like we loved him at 16.” Asked if he would support ending the conservatorship, Tuohy said, “Of course. I want whatever Michael wants.”