Michael Oher, a former NFL star whose childhood and rise to fame inspired the book (and subsequent movie) The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game, is alleging that his life story was based on a lie.
As told in the 2006 book, written by Michael Lewis, couple Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy took in Oher when he was a teenager as he bounced around the foster care system. They brought him into their family and adopted him, all while he found his footing in football. This led him to a career in collegiate football at the University of Mississippi and a successful NFL career.
Now, the retired athlete, aged 37, is claiming that he was never really adopted by the Tuohys and he never got to see the monetary success of the book and the Oscar-winning film.
According to ESPN, Michael petitioned a Tennessee court on Monday that the central narrative of the famed story was a lie and was created to profit off him.
He claims that the Tuohys had tricked Michael three months after he turned 18 in 2004 into signing legal documents that would make them his conservators, thereby allowing them to make business decisions in his name.
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The petition also states that Sean and Leigh Anne and their two birth children profited off of the immense success of the movie thanks to a $225,000 flat fee and a percentage of the revenue. He alleges that the deal denied him millions, since he received nothing from the movie's $300 million gross.
The 2009 film was directed by John Lee Hancock and Quinton Aaron as Michael, Tim McGraw as Sean, and Sandra Bullock as Leigh Anne. The film was a smash at the box office and received a generally positive response from critics, earning a Best Picture nod at the Academy Awards and winning Sandra her first and only Oscar.
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The legal filing states: "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."
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The petition asks for Michael's conservatorship to be terminated and a ruling to bar the Tuohys from using his name and likeness in the future, as well as the compensation of all the profits he was thereby owed.
"Since at least August of 2004, Conservators have allowed Michael, specifically, and the public, generally, to believe that Conservators adopted Michael and have used that untruth 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."
The Tuohys, who have referred to Michael as their "adopted son" all this time, have not responded to the allegations as of writing.
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