In a shocking allegation, former NFL player Michael Oher, whose story inspired the Oscar-winning 2009 film “The Blind Side,” filed a lawsuit in Tennessee Monday alleging he was never actually adopted and was forced into a conservatorship.
The movie was shot in metro Atlanta in 2009 and ultimately grossed $309 million worldwide. Oher said he received no compensation for the movie in which he is portrayed as a poor Black young man (Quinton Aaron) adopted by a wealthy white family led by Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock) who gave him the opportunity to excel at football.
According to the lawsuit, Oher discovered earlier this year that he was not actually legally adopted by Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy and was deceived into agreeing to make them his conservators when he turned 18. He said this gave them control of business deals that made them millions but left him empty handed.
Sean Tuohy told the The Daily Memphian that he had been “devastated” to hear about the lawsuit and that it was “upsetting to think we would make money off any of our children.” He said Oher and other family members each received $14,000 from the movie.
Oher, now 37, played at the University of Mississippi and was an All-American. He made the NFL in 2009 and played 110 games over eight seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, the Tennessee Titans and Carolina Panthers as an offensive tackle. He won a Super Bowl with the Ravens in 2013.
He is seeking an end to the conservatorship, unspecified damages and a share of the profits the Tuohys earned from his story. The lawsuit said he unknowingly signed away his rights to his own life story in 2007 and agreed to enter into the conservatorship thinking it was part of the adoption process.
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