MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Sean Tuohy, the patriarch of the family whose relationship with Michael Oher inspired the 2009 film “The Blind Side,” said he was “devastated” by the former NFL player’s allegations that he was never adopted and was tricked into a conservatorship that made money for the Memphis residents.
Tuohy, 63, a sports commentator for the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies, refuted Oher’s filing in a Shelby County probate court that alleges that he and his wife, Leigh Anne Tuohy, “enriched themselves at the expense of their Ward,” the Los Angeles Times reported.
“It’s upsetting to think we would make money off any of our children,” Sean Tuohy told the Daily Memphian. “But we’re going to love Michael at 37 just like we loved him at 16.”
Sean Tuohy said he was stunned Monday when he read the allegations from Michael Oher. https://t.co/5tWTT8ntJ3
— The Daily Memphian (@DailyMemphian) August 14, 2023
By @geoff_calkins
The petition filed by Oher, 37, who played eight seasons in the NFL and played collegiately at the University of Mississippi, seeks to end the conservatorship of his name and financial dealings with the Tuohys, who helped make his life story a huge hit on the screen, The Tennessean reported.
The 14-page petition alleges that the Touhys, who took Oher into their home as a high school student, never adopted him, ESPN reported. He claimed that less than three months after Oher turned 18 in 2004, the couple tricked him into signing a document making them his conservators, which gave them legal authority to make business deals in his name.
Martin Singer, the attorney for the Touhys, dismissed Oher’s claims in a statement to Entertainment Tonight.
“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. The idea that the Tuohys have ever sought to profit off Mr. Oher is not only offensive, it is transparently ridiculous,” Singer said. “Through hard work and good fortune, Sean and Leigh Anne have made an extraordinary amount of money in the restaurant business. The notion that a couple worth hundreds of millions of dollars would connive to withhold a few thousand dollars in profit participation payments from anyone – let alone from someone they loved as a son -- defies belief.”
Sean Tuohy said that Michael Lewis, who wrote the 2006 book that was adapted into a movie three years later, was a childhood friend who gave the family “half of his share” and “everybody in the family got an equal share, including Michael (Oher),” the Times reported.
Sean Tuohy estimated that the shares were “about $14,000 each.” He added that they were “never offered money” and “never asked for money” because he had already reportedly made more than $200 million from the sale of his fast-food franchises, according to the newspaper.
“The Blind Side” was nominated for best picture and earned Sandra Bullock, who played Leigh Anne Tuohy in the film, an Oscar for best actress. Sean Touhy was played in the film by Tim McGraw.
The movie grossed $300 million. According to E! Online, Oher’s petition stated that the film paid the Tuohys and their children, Sean “SJ” Touhy Jr. and Collins Touhy $225,000 each, plus an additional 2.5% of the sports film’s “defined net proceeds.”
According to court documents obtained by WKRN-TV, Oher said that Sean and Leigh Anne Touhy presented him with a petition for a conservatorship that granted them “total control over (his) ability to negotiate for or enter any contract.” Oher added that he had no physical or mental disabilities in 2004, although the couple allegedly presented conservatorship as the only option because Oher was older than 18, the television station reported.
Since then, Oher claimed in the petition, the Tuohys have “falsely and publicly represented themselves as the adoptive parents of 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 stated, according to The Associated Press.
Sean “SJ” Touhy disputed Oher’s claims in an interview with Barstool Radio on Monday.
“I want to preface this by saying I loved Mike at 16, I love (Michael) now at 37, and I’ll love him at 67,” SJ Touhy said. “If he says he learned that in February, I find that hard to believe. (I went back to) our family group texts … to see what things have been said. And there’s things back in 2020, 2021 (that) were like, you know, ‘If you guys give me this much, then I won’t go public with things.’ And so I don’t know if that’s true. I think everyone learned in the past year about the conservatorship stuff because of Britney Spears so maybe that’s the case.”
The elder Sean Touhy said it was difficult to hear Oher’s allegations.
“Whatever he wants, we’ll do,” he told the Daily Memphian. “No question, the allegations are insulting, but, look, it’s a crazy world. You’ve got to live in it.”
