NFL: Oher, from the Oscar-winning film to the complaint of the family

Former NFL star Michael Oher, whose alleged adoption to lift him out of extreme poverty by a wealthy white family was immortalized in the 2009 film “The Blind Side,” filed a complaint on Monday with a Tennessee court stating the adoption story was a lie concocted by the family to get rich at its expense. The 14-page complaint, filed in Shelby County, Tennessee, probate court, alleges that Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, who welcomed Oher into their home as a high school student, never adopted him. Instead, less than three months after Oher turned 18 in 2004, the petition says, the couple coaxed him into signing a document that gave them the legal authority to do business on his behalf. The complaint also alleges that the Tuohys used this authority to enter into a deal that netted them and their two natural children millions of dollars in royalties from the Oscar-winning film that grossed more than $300 million, while Oher did not he got nothing for a story, indeed “that would not have existed without him”. With this act Oher asks for the closure of the agreement and the impossibility for the family to use his name and his story again.

A foundation

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Over the next several years, the Tuohys continued to name the 37-year-old Oher their latest adopted child, using this story to promote their foundation and Leigh Anne Tuohy’s work as an author and motivational speaker. “Michael’s adoption lie is one on which co-conservatives Leigh Anne Tuohy and Sean Tuohy got rich at Michael Oher’s expense,” the complaint says. “Michael Oher discovered this lie to his chagrin and embarrassment in February 2023, when he learned that the Conservatorship which he had consented to on the basis that by doing so he would become a member of the Tuohy family, in fact failed to provide him with any familial relationship with the Tuohys.” The Tuohy family’s attorney declined to comment to ESPN on Monday, saying the family would file a legal response in the coming weeks. “We are devastated,” Sean Tuohy said of the incident. “It’s shocking to think that we would have made money off any of our children. But we will love Michael at 37 just as we loved him at 16.”

Oher’s story

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Oher was one of 12 children born to a drug addict mother. Before his 11th birthday, Oher was placed in foster care by changing numerous families and schools. Although he was an able student, he attended 11 schools in nine years and repeated both first and second grades. His fortunes changed after a friend’s father, impressed by Oher’s inner drive and focus, introduced him to the principal of a private Christian school in a prosperous Memphis neighborhood. Oher began attending school in the eighth grade. He was a sports prodigy, he excelled in track and field, basketball and soccer, a game he had studied for years. He started playing football for his new school in the eighth grade, and there were numerous college scholarship offers. Due to his unstable housing situation, Oher often stayed at the homes of his classmates, including the Tuohys, whose children attended the school. The petition states that the Tuohys formed a closer relationship with him once Oher’s athletic prowess attracted widespread attention. They invited him to spend more nights at their spacious Memphis home and took him shopping. Eventually, they asked Oher to move out. They encouraged him to address them as “mom” and “dad” and said they planned to adopt him, the complaint says. Oher was happy and trusted the Tuohys completely. Oher went on to play college football at the University of Mississippi. He was a two-time All-American and a first-round pick by the Baltimore Ravens in 2009.