Michael Oher has accomplished a lot in his life and football career. He was a unanimous All-American offensive tackle for Ole Miss. He was a first-round pick in the NFL Draft. He played in the NFL for eight seasons and won a Super Bowl.
However, he’ll likely be remembered most as the subject of Michael Lewis’ 2006 book, The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game, and the 2009 film of the same name.
The feel-good story at the center of the book and movie took a sour turn in recent years as Oher filed a suit against the Tuohy family , claiming they had exploited him for financial gain and lied about their relationship. The Tuohy family responded by accusing Oher of attempting to extort them and sending “menacing” texts.
Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy had a conservatorship over Oher from the time he entered high school and throughout his eight-year NFL career, using the untrue claim that they adopted him to help maintain it. A judge ended the conservatorship last year .
Oher spoke about his lawsuit for the first time in a piece written by Michael Sokolove for the New York Times Sunday. The former NFL player says that he resented the way the book, and eventually the movie, made him seem uneducated and “dumb.”
“It’s hard to describe my reaction,” Oher said, recalling his first time watching the film when speaking with The New York Times. “It seemed kind of funny to me, to tell you the truth, like it was a comedy about someone else. It didn’t register. But as social media was just starting to grow, and I started seeing stuff that I’m dumb. Every article mentioned ‘The Blind Side,’ like it was part of my name.
“If my kids can’t do something in class, will their teacher think, ‘Their dad is dumb — is that why they’re not getting it?’”
“The NFL people were wondering if I could read a playbook,” Oher added.
While he was selected with the 23rd pick in the first round of the 2009 NFL Draft, Oher believes that the way he was portrayed in the book cost him a higher draft spot, which in turn means it cost him the increased money that would have come with it.
Oher claims in his lawsuit that the Tuohys exploited him, using his story to promote speaking engagements that paid them around $8 million over the last 20 years.
In a separate 2023 petition, he alleged that the Tuohys lied about his adoption status to get him to sign paperwork that made them his conservators even after he turned 18.
In that petition, he also alleges that the Tuohys negotiated a deal with Twentieth Century Fox that gave all four family members $225,000 each and a percentage of profits from The Blind Side film. Meanwhile, a separate contract that Oher purportedly signed “appears to give away to Fox, without any payment whatsoever” his life story. The former football player denied ever signing such a document.
The Tuohys have said in filings they paid Oher around $138,000, which they claim is the same amount of profits that all four of their family members also received.
Sokolove also spoke with Michael Lewis, who wrote the book the film was based on. As he has since the Oher started lobbing accusations, he fiercely defended the Tuohys.
“You know they did not steal his movie money, right?” Lewis said. “This whole thing starts with that. It starts with a lie. I would just be very suspicious about everything else.”
“Did you get a sense of how much money they spent on him when he was living with them? They bought him a truck. They bought him clothes. They housed him. There’s not a whiff of possibility the Tuohys are going to milk money off Michael Oher. You’ve gotta sort of know more about them. They’re rich. And generous. They aren’t stingy rich people. They’re openhanded rich people.”
Lewis previously pointed to Hollywood greed and CTE as potentially influencing Oher’s decision-making. He later walked the CTE comments back .
Oher told Sokolove that ultimately this isn’t about money (“I’ve got millions of dollars. I’m fine.”) but rather feeling as though he had his identity and story taken away from him. That took a toll on him emotionally, especially as he watched the Tuohys allegedly profit from his name.
“For a long time, I was so angry mentally,” he said. “With what I was going through. I want to be the person I was before ‘The Blind Side,’ personality-wise. I’m still working on it.”
[ The New York Times ]
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