Michael Oher Family Defends Adoption 'Lie,' Conservatorship

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The adopted family of the retired NFL player who was the subject of the movie Blind Side has come forward to defend new accusations they lied about adopting him and instead used a conservatorship which allowed them to enrich themselves from his life story. Michael Oher stepped forward on Monday with claims that a central piece of that story is a lie. In the film, Oher, who is Black, is portrayed as a big-time football player stuck in a poverty-stricken situation until his white adoptive parents – Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy – took him in. However, Oher is now stating that he was never officially adopted. Instead, he claims to have been misled, and states in a petition that he was tricked into signing a document that made the Tuohys his conservator, giving them rights to make business decisions on his behalf, ESPN reported.

Oher claims that he was cheated out of his share of millions of dollars in royalties after Blind Side earned more than $300 million at the box office and was nominated for several awards. Oher has now petitioned the Tennesse court that granted the conservatorship for, among other things, his share of the earnings. “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.” More from ESPN:

But there are some important legal distinctions. If Oher had been adopted by the Tuohys, he would have been a legal member of their family, and he would have retained power to handle his own financial affairs. Under the conservatorship, Oher surrendered that authority to the Tuohys, even though he was a legal adult with no known physical or psychological disabilities.

To read the entire ESPN article, [click here].

Later Monday, Sean Tuohy told the Daily Memphian that he was “devastated” by the accusations.

“I will say it’s upsetting that people would think I would want to make money off any of my children,” he said. He also claimed that he and his wife became Michael Oher’s conservators to help him. More from the Daily Memphian:

Tuohy said the conservatorship at the heart of Monday’s petition in Shelby County Probate Court had nothing to do with the movie. It was a way to appease the NCAA when it appeared Oher might play football at Ole Miss.

Tuohy was an All-American point guard at Ole Miss and an active supporter of the school. As such, he would qualify as a “booster” under NCAA rules. “Michael was obviously living with us for a long time, and the NCAA didn’t like that,” Tuohy said. “They said the only way Michael could go to Ole Miss was if he was actually part of the family. I sat Michael down and told him, ‘If you’re planning to go to Ole Miss — or even considering Ole Miss — we think you have to be part of the family. This would do that, legally.’ We contacted lawyers who had told us that we couldn’t adopt over the age of 18; the only thing we could do was to have a conservatorship. We were so concerned it was on the up-and-up that we made sure the biological mother came to court.”

It’s unclear why anyone would think a retired former professional football player would need a conservator at the age of 37, but Sean Tuohy said he would stop it from ending.

“I want whatever Michael wants,” he said while still referring to the allegations as “insulting.” SEE ALSO: Writer Says ‘The Blind Side’ Peddles The Most Insidious Kind Of Racism 10 Mainstream Snubs Set Right By The NAACP Image Awards