Sean Tuohy responds to Michael Oher’s ‘Blind Side’ allegations

Sean Tuohy fired back at Michael Oher after the former NFL offensive lineman filed a petition Monday in a Tennessee probate court accusing him and his family of profiting off his expense with the making of the 2009 film, “The Blind Side.”

Oher alleges the Tuohy family received millions in royalties from the movie, while he did not receive money despite it using his name and story. Furthermore, the films shows the Tuohys adopted Oher to protect him from living on the streets. Oher, however, claims the family never adopted him. Instead, Oher alleges the Tuohys tricked him into signing a document making them his conservators. This agreement allowed the Tuohys to make business deals and profit off Oher’s name.

Tuohy, a former All-American point guard at Ole Miss, called the allegations “insulting.”

“No question, the allegations are insulting,” Tuohy told The Daily Memphian. “But, look, it’s a crazy world. You’ve got to live in it. It’s obviously upset everybody.”

Tuohy refuted Oher’s claim that he and his family made millions off the film. He said he didn’t need the money after selling a majority of his fast-food franchises for north of $200 million. Tuohy called it “upsetting that people would think I would want to make money off any of my children.”

“We didn’t make any money off the movie,” Tuohy said, via AL.com. “Well, Michael Lewis [‘The Blind Side’ book author] gave us half of his share. Everybody in the family got an equal share, including Michael. It was about $14,000, each. We were never offered money. We never asked for money… You can look up how much I sold my company for.”

Sean Tuohy addresses conservatorship claim from Michael Oher

In the petition, Oher asked the Touhys to end their conservatorship over him, in which Tuohy said “of course” he would if that’s what Oher wanted. Tuohy said the conservatorship was done to appease the NCAA as Oher became a high school football standout at Briarcrest Christian School in Eads, Tennessee. An Ole Miss booster under NCAA rules, Tuohy said the only way Oher could’ve played for the Rebels was if he became part of their family.

The family initially sought adoption, before finding out that conservatorship was the only way, Tuohy said.

“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.”

Oher’s attorney, J. Gerard Stranch IV, said that Oher was “devastated” upon learning of the conservatorship in February 2023.

“Mike didn’t grow up with a stable family life,” Stranch said. “When the Tuohy family told Mike they loved him and wanted to adopt him, it filled a void that had been with him his entire life. Discovering that he wasn’t actually adopted devastated Mike and wounded him deeply.”