The inspiration behind the movie “The Blind Side”, retired NFL player Michael Oher, has filed a petition at a Tennessee court claiming Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy lied to him by having him sign papers to confirm his adoption which was instead a conservatorship, American media reported.
Oher filed the 14 pages petition at the Shelby County Probate Court on Monday, AP reported.
The 37-year-old who played for the Baltimore Ravens and won a Superbowl with them, claims the Tuohy couple enriched themselves by falsely advertising as Oher’s adoptive parents.
By becoming his conservator’s, the Tuohys had legal authority to act on behalf of Oher in business deals.
According to the petition, Oher became aware of the situation in February 2023.
Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy took Oher into their home as a high school student.
Oher now wants to end the conservatorship and wants all the money owed to him, which includes proceeds from “The Blind Side” that was never paid to him, despite him being the star of the flick.
Royalties from “The Blind Side” were also allegedly paid to the Tuohys birth children, Sean Junior and Collins. Reports indicate that the two children received $225,000, plus 2.5 percent of the film's net proceeds.
“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 said, as quoted in ESPN.
"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 no familial relationship with the Tuohys," it read.
The Touhy family did not want to comment on the claims, according to AP and ESPN, but family attorney Steve Farese said they would file a legal response in the coming days.
Sean Touhy told the Daily Memphian, a news outlet in Memphis, that they are “devastated” Oher is making such a claim.
It is understood that Oher signed the binding document while in his final year of high school.
In Oher’s book “I Beat the Odds”, he speaks about signing the conservatorship.
“They explained to me that it means pretty much the exact same thing as 'adoptive parents,' but that the laws were just written in a way that took my age into account,” Oher wrote in the book.
The legal precedence for a conservatorship requires the adult who is signing over their authority, to not be of sound physical and mental capabilities, thus giving their authority over to his/her conservators.
We have seen how a relationship of this type ends, following the legal battle between Britney Spears and her father Jamie Spears.
Michale Oher was neither physically nor mentally challenged at the time when the Tuohys took him in, in fact, he was a rising star with immense athletic potential.
The Touhys have also previously claimed that they never made money from the movie, and only received a flat fee for their part.
Oher has spoken out against the movie, claiming that the portrayal of his early life is a source of great pain.
The 1.93 metre tall football star was one of 12 children born to a mother who struggled with drug addiction.
Oher was forced to live in foster care by the age of 10.
But Oher’s sporting prowess was not only seen by the Touhys, a close family friend spotted his talent and took him to a private Christian school in Memphis.
This is where he was first spotted by the Tuohys.
IOL