WASHINGTON — Members of the Tuohy family are responding to allegations from former NFL player Michael Oher, known for being the inspiration for the movie “The Blind Side,” denying that they took advantage of him as a young athlete.
The story of how the Tuohys took Oher in as a struggling teenager was eventually made into the 2009 film "The Blind Side," featuring Sandra Bullock.
On Monday, Oher filed a petition accusing Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy of lying to him by having him sign papers making them his conservators rather than his adoptive parents nearly two decades ago.
Sean Tuohy told The Daily Memphian the family was "devastated" by the claims and said the family would dissolve the conservatorship if Oher wanted it.
“It’s upsetting to think we would make money off any of our children," he told the news outlet. "But we’re going to love Michael at 37 just like we loved him at 16.”
According to Tuohy, the conservatorship was done to satisfy the NCAA as Oher considered Tuohy's alma mater Mississippi for college.
In a statement released by the family's attorney Tuesday, the Tuohys called the claims "outlandish."
"The idea that the Tuohys have ever sought to profit off Mr. Oher is not only offensive, it is transparently ridiculous," the Tuohy family said in a statement. "In reality, the Tuohys opened their home to Mr. Oher, offered him structure, support and, most of all, unconditional love. They have consistently treated him like a son and one of their three children. His response was to threaten them, including saying that he would plant a negative story about them in the press unless they paid him $15 million."
"Additionally, in spite of the false allegation in the lawsuit, the Tuohys have always been upfront about how a conservatorship (from which not one penny was received) was established to assist with Mr. Oher’s needs, ranging from getting him health insurance and obtaining a driver’s license to helping with college admissions," the statement continued. "Should Mr. Oher wish to terminate the conservatorship, either now or at anytime in the future, the Tuohys will never oppose it in any way."
As part of the petition, Oher accuses the Tuohys of never taking legal action to assume custody from the Tennessee Department of Human Services before he turned 18. The conservatorship paperwork was filed months after Oher turned 18 in May 2004.
He moved in with the Tuohys just before his senior year of high school and says he was told to call them “Mom” and “Dad.” Oher says in the petition he was encouraged to call the attorney who filed the conservatorship paperwork “Aunt Debbie” Branan.
Oher also alleges the Tuohys had him sign paperwork almost immediately after he moved in as part of the adoption process. Oher says he was “falsely advised” that it would be called a conservatorship because he was already 18 but the intent was adoption.
The family's biological son, Sean "SJ" Tuohy Jr., who is featured heavily in "The Blind Side," told Barstool Sports that he had found old family texts indicating Oher may have been aware of the conservatorship as early as 2020, three years earlier than what Oher's court filing said.
"If he says he learned that in February, I find that hard to believe," Tuohy Jr. told Barstool Sports Monday. "I went back to my texts today ... to look at our family group text and texts to see what things have been said. There were things back in 2020, 2021 that were like, ‘If you guys give me this much, then I won’t go public with things.’ 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, but it doesn’t add up."
In his petition, filed early Monday morning, Oher accused the family of making money off of him and not sharing any of the profits from the film rights to his story.
“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,” according to the petition to end the conservatorship.
In the petition, filed in Shelby County Probate Court, Oher asked for the conservatorship to be terminated along with asking for a full accounting of the money earned off the use of his name and story. He also asked to be paid what he is due along with interest.
He accused the Tuohys of enriching themselves at his expense by continuing to “falsely and publicly” represent themselves as his adoptive parents “to the date of the filing of this petition.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.