Topics: Film and TV, Football, Money, News, Sport, US News, The Blind Side, Michael Oher
The football player who inspired The Blind Side has claimed his adoption was a lie and that his family made millions off him.
In case you're not familiar with the movie, the tale is said to be based on a real-life underdog story of Michael Oher which first hit our screens back in 2009.
Now some 14 years later, Oher has petitioned a Tennessee court with allegations that a central element of the film's plot was 'concocted by the family to enrich themselves at his expense' - namely, his adoption.
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The sports movie is based on the 2006 book of the same name, where a black teenager, Oher played by Quinton Aaron, is in and out of the school system as well as being homeless.
Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock), and her husband Sean (Tim McGraw), take in Oher and eventually become his legal guardians and he later goes on to a glittering career in the NFL and a Super Bowl victory.
Now, it's nothing new that the football flick has been labeled by many as problematic but the latest controversy surrounds the Tuohy family.
Oher claimed that the adoption never actually took place and that Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy simply 'tricked him' into signing a document making them his conservators.
This, in turn, allowed the pair to have legal authority to make business deals in his name.
The Tuohys and their two birth children went on to receive '$225,000' plus '2.5%' of the film's 'defined net proceeds'.
The Oscar-winning movie ended up reportedly locking up more than $300 million at the box office while Oher himself received nothing as reported by ESPN on Monday (14 August), despite the fact the story 'would not have existed without him'.
A legal filing from Shelby County, Tennessee, probate court, reads: "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."
The petition goes on to ask the probate court to put an end to the Tuohys' conservatorship over Oher as well as creating an injunction that stops the family from utilizing his name and likeness.
Alongside this, the petition also seeks financial reimbursement from the money that the athelete never received from the blockbuster smash-hit, The Blind Side.
The petition adds: "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."
ESPN also stated that the Tuohy family 'did not immediately return phone calls Monday to numbers listed for them'.
