Former NFL player Michael Oher, who is most famous for being depicted in “The Blind Side,” filed a legal petition against the Tuohy family accusing them of tricking him into gaining conservatorship power. Oher claims they never actually adopted him and made millions off this alleged lie. Now, Sean Tuohy has spoken out.
“We’re devastated,” Tuohy said to the Daily Memphian. “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.”
Oher claims all four Tuohy family members — Sean, Leigh Anne and their two children — profited $250,000 each from “The Blind Side,” as well as 2.5% in residuals, according to the petition.
“We 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,” Tuohy disputed.
“The last thing I needed was 40 grand from a movie,” Tuohy continued. “I will say it’s upsetting that people would think I would want to make money off any of my children.”
Sean Tuohy said he was stunned Monday when he read the allegations from Michael Oher. https://t.co/5tWTT8ntJ3
— The Daily Memphian (@DailyMemphian) August 14, 2023
Touhy says the conservatorship that triggered Monday’s petition filing isn’t related to the film. He claims it was a way to make the NCAA happy when it looked like Oher was headed to Ole Miss.
“Michael was obviously living with us for a long time, and the NCAA didn’t like that,” Tuohy explained to the Daily Memphian. “They said the only way Michael could go to Ole Miss was if he was actually part of the family. I sat Michael down and told him, ‘If you’re planning to go to Ole Miss — or even considering Ole Miss — we think you have to be part of the family. This would do that, legally.’”
“We contacted lawyers who had told us that we couldn’t adopt over the age of 18; the only thing we could do was to have a conservatorship. We were so concerned it was on the up-and-up that we made sure the biological mother came to court.”
Tuohy says Oher and his family were close until he started noticing distance “maybe a year and a half ago.”
“It’s upsetting, but it’s life, what are you going to do? Certain people will believe us and certain people won’t,” Tuohy said.
“No question, the allegations are insulting, but, look, it’s a crazy world. You’ve got to live in it. It’s obviously upset everybody.” (RELATED: Michael Oher Claims ‘The Blind Side’ Movie Is A Lie, Tuohy Family Made Millions Off It And Left Him Out: REPORT)
“It’s hard because you have to defend yourself, but whatever he wants, we’ll do. We’re not in this for anything other than whatever he wants. If he’d have said, ‘I don’t want to be part of the family anymore,’ we’d have been very upset, but we absolutely would have done it,” Tuohy continued.
“I want whatever Michael wants,” Tuohy responded when asked if he and his wife would be willing to end their conservatorship over Oher.