Tuohy Family Says Michael Oher Sought $15M, Threatened to 'Plant a Negative Story'

The Tuohy family is fighting back against allegations from former NFL offensive lineman Michael Oher that say they tricked him into agreeing to a conservatorship after he turned 18 and didn't give him any of the money made from the movie The Blind Side.

Attorney Martin Singer, who is representing Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, released a statement via TMZ that said Oher threatened to "plant a negative story about them in the press unless they paid him $15 million."

It also said "Oher has actually attempted to run this play several times before" and "has finally found a willing enabler and filed this ludicrous lawsuit as a cynical attempt to drum up attention in the middle of his latest book tour."

The statement said the Tuohy family has "always been upfront about how a conservatorship (from which not one penny was received) was established to assist with Mr. Oher's needs, ranging from getting him health insurance and obtaining a driver's license to helping with college admissions."

It also said the family would not prevent the former NFL player from ending the conservatorship.

"Anyone with a modicum of common sense can see that the outlandish claims made by Michael Oher about the Tuohy family are hurtful and absurd," Singer said. "The idea that the Tuohys have ever sought to profit off Mr. Oher is not only offensive, it is transparently ridiculous.

"... The notion that a couple worth hundreds of millions of dollars would connive to withhold a few thousand dollars in profit participation from anyone—let alone from someone they loved as a son—defies belief."

This comes after Michael A. Fletcher of ESPN reported Monday that Oher filed a 14-page petition to a Tennessee court that said the Tuohy family didn't adopt him as depicted in The Blind Side but instead "tricked him into signing a document making them his conservators, which gave them legal authority to make business deals in his name" after he turned 18 years old.

"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 legal filing said.

"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."

The filing also said that the Tuohys and their two children were paid $225,000 in addition to 2.5 percent of the movie's "defined net proceeds," which is notable because it grossed more than $300 million while in theaters.

While Oher said he was not paid for the movie, Singer said the Tuohys split the profits with him and deposited his shares into a trust account they established for him.

Oher filed the petition in an effort to end the conservatorship, prevent the family from using his name and likeness, and to receive his cut of the story's profits and damages.

Sean Tuohy told the Daily Memphian's Geoff Calkins that the family was "devastated" by Oher's allegations but still planned to "love Michael at 37 just like we loved him at 16."

He also said he and his wife used the conservatorship instead of adoption to make sure Oher followed NCAA regulations when he attended Ole Miss. He explained lawyers told him that Oher could not be legally adopted because he was over 18 years old, which meant the family went with the conservatorship path.

Oher attended Ole Miss, which was the alma mater of the Tuohys, and became a consensus All-American.

The Baltimore Ravens selected him with a first-round pick in 2009, and he played eight seasons in the NFL with the Ravens, Tennessee Titans and Carolina Panthers.