Michael Oher Says Tuohy Family Never Adopted Him, Tricked Him, Took Blind Side Money

Former NFL offensive lineman Michael Oher, whose supposed adoption by a rich, white family was the subject of the 2009 movie Blind Side starring Sandra Bullock, alleged in court documents Monday that Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy never actually adopted him, per ESPN's Michael A. Fletcher.

Instead, Oher said he was tricked into agreeing to the Tuohys as his conservators after he turned 18, granting them legal rights to make business decisions on his behalf. In turn, he said the family made royalties off the Blind Side movie while he didn't receive a penny.

The legal filing read, in part:

"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. 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."

Oher is seeking both the end of the conservatorship and an injunction that would prevent the Tuohys from using and profiting off his name and likeness. He's also seeking financial recompense for the money the family already made off his name and likeness, alongside other damages, claiming the family used the alleged lie of his adoption "to gain financial advantages for themselves and the foundations which they own or which they exercise control."

"All monies made in said manner should in all conscience and equity be disgorged and paid over to the said ward, Michael Oher," it added.

In his 2011 memoir, I Beat the Odds, Oher wrote that the Tuohys said there wasn't a difference between conservatorship and adoption.

"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," the book read.

However, as Fletcher noted, adoption into the family would have allowed Oher to handle his own financial affairs. A conservatorship gave that power over completely to the Tuohys.

"Mike didn't grow up with a stable family life. When the Tuohy family told Mike they loved him and wanted to adopt him, it filled a void that had been with him his entire life," said Oher's attorney, J. Gerard Stranch IV. "Discovering that he wasn't actually adopted devastated Mike and wounded him deeply."

Oher, 37, played eight NFL seasons with the Baltimore Ravens (2009-13), Tennessee Titans (2014) and Carolina Panthers (2015-16). He began exploring why he allegedly didn't receive profits from The Blind Side movie following his NFL career, when a lawyer discovered the conservatorship documents.

He has also bristled at how The Blind Side depicted him as unintelligent, which first raised doubts to him about the intentions of the Tuohys and led him down the path toward Monday's legal filing.