The Blind Side Real-Life Inspiration Michael Oher Alleges Family Tricked Him Into Signing Conservatorship

Michael Oher, whose life was the basis for the hit film 'The Blind Side,' has filed a petition in a Tennessee court claiming that he was never actually adopted by the Tuohys, and instead they used a conservatorship to get rich off his story.

By Russ Burlingame

Michael Oher, the former NFL player whose life was loosely adapted for the hit 2009 movie The Blind Side, is speaking out against Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, the couple with whom he lived during part of high school and college. According to the film, and the book it's based on (which was written by Michael Lewis), the Tuohys adopted Oher, and were key to not only getting him into football, but to helping him pass his exams in high school and get into college, where he could position himself for a spot in the NFL. Oher claims he was never adopted, but rather put under a conservatorship that allowed the Tuohys to take advantage of him and make millions of dollars.

This is not the first time Oher has referred to the content of the movie as being heavily fictionalized. In his book I Beat The Odds: From Homelessness, to The Blind Side, and Beyond, Oher wrote, "I felt like it [the movie] portrayed me as dumb instead of as a kid who had never had consistent academic instruction and ended up thriving once he got it."

In a 14-page petition filed in a Tennessee probate court, Oher cleams that Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy never adopted him. The petition alleges that three months after Oher turned 18 in 2004, the Tuohys tricked him into signing a document that made them his conservators, and in turn gave them legal authority to make business deals in his name.

Under the terms of the conservatorship, Oher alleges, the Tuohys and their biological children made millions from The Blind Side while Oher himself was paid nothing. 

The movie earned over $300 million at the box office, against a budget of under $30 million, and won scads of awards. It was also one of a number of movies that came out in rapid succession and made Sandra Bullock the most bankable woman in Hollywood for a while. Its visibility helped Leigh Anne build on her fortune as an author and motivational speaker. The Tuohys also have a charitable foundation, the Making It Happen Foundation, for which their adoption of Oher is a key part of the narrative.

"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," the legal filing says. "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."  

Conservatorships like the one Oher says is at play here have become much more common knowledge in recent years due to the controversy over the one pop superstar Britney Spears lived with from 2008 until 2021.

The Tuohys denied that they had made themselves rich on the movie, but comments made to the Daily Memphian (via ESPN)  stop short of disputing Oher's claims about the adoption and conservatorship.

"We're devastated," Sean Tuohy said. "It's upsetting to think we would make money off any of our children. But we're going to love Michael at 37 just like we loved him at 16."

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