Michael Oher, the subject of the 2009 film The Blind Side, has sued the Tuohy family, claiming they never legally adopted him and used the movie to make millions by giving a falsified version of his true life story. The 14-page petition was filed in Shelby County, Tennessee, probate court. It alleges that Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy took Michael into their home as a high school student, but never adopted him. Instead, at age 18, he claims he was tricked into signing a document that made them his conservators, giving them legal authority to make business deals in his name. Sean Tuohy Jr., the son of the family, spoke out about the allegations.
During an interview with Barstool Sports, Sean Jr. showed sympathy for the former NFL star. “I completely understand,” he said in response to Michael being upset. But then he denied that he and his family ever made $2 million off the film.
“Man, if I had $2 million in my bank account, it would be in my email signature and say, ‘Signed, SJ Tuohy, multi-millionaire,’” he went on. However, Dave Portnoy rebutted. “Somebody clearly is making a ton of the money off that movie, and he’s not seeing any of it — listen, if someone made a movie that I thought was about me, and I see it sold $300 million [at the] box office and I don’t see anything, I could see how that would upset me.”
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“I get it, why he’s mad. I completely understand,” Sean Jr. shared. “It stinks that it’ll play out on a very public stage.”
According to the legal petition, Leigh Anne and Sean still "have all powers of attorney to act on” Michael's behalf almost 20 years later. The conservatorship papers say that he “shall not be allowed to enter into any contracts or bind himself without the direct approval of his conservators.”
