Sean Tuohy — who was played by Tim McGraw in The Blind Side — is speaking out following Michael Oher‘s claims that the Tuohy family never legally adopted him and instead tricked him into a conservatorship to enrich themselves at his expense.
In a petition filed on Monday (Aug. 14), the former NFL player claimed he only recently found out that the Tuohys, who took him under their wing as a high school student, allegedly lied about adopting him. He accused them of manipulating him into signing a conservatorship shortly after he turned 18, which gave them full legal authority over any business dealings made in his name.
In an interview with The Daily Memphian, Tuohy revealed that he and his family are “devastated” over the former NFL player’s allegations — and claimed that the conservatorship was put in place to avoid issues with the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) when Oher decided he wanted to attend the University of Mississippi.
“They said the only way Michael could go to Ole Miss was if he was actually part of the family,” Tuohy said. “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.'”
He continued, “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 also claimed he received no payment for The Blind Side, which made over $300 million. According to the legal filing, the Tuohys allegedly negotiated a deal that would pay them and their two birth children $225,000 each, plus 2.5% of the film’s “defined net proceeds.” However, Tuohy insisted that that wasn’t the case.
“We didn’t make any money off the movie,” Touhy said. “Well, Michael Lewis, the [author of the book The Blind Side was based on] 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.”
He added that it’s “upsetting” to think he and his wife, Leigh Anne, would make money off of any of their children, before pointing out that they are always going to love Oher.
“No question, the allegations are insulting,” Tuohy said. “But, look, it’s a crazy world. You’ve got to live in it. It’s obviously upset everybody.”
Tuohy also said he would end the conservatorship if that was what Oher wanted.
Meanwhile, his biological son Sean Tuohy Jr. told his side of the story in an interview with Barstool Sports. While he “completely understands” why Oher is mad, he said he found it “hard to believe” that he only found out about the arrangement earlier this year.
“I went through my family group texts today to see what had been said. There were things in like 2020 or 2021 that said, ‘If you guys give me this much, then I won’t go public with things,'” Tuohy Jr. claimed, before adding, “I think everybody learned in the past year about conservatorship stuff because of Britney Spears, so maybe that’s the case.”
Like his father, Tuohy Jr. also dismissed claims that he made millions from the movie. Instead, he estimated earning anywhere between $60,000 and $70,000 in royalties since it was released in 2009.
“Man, if I had $2 million in my bank account, it would be in my email signature and say, ‘Signed, SJ Tuohy, multi-millionaire,'” he joked.
Despite the allegations, Tuohy Jr. said he still thinks “very highly” of Oher, whom he shares “great memories” with, such as the retired football player buying him his first car and going to see him play with the Baltimore Ravens.
“I’m gonna preface this by saying that I love Mike at 16, I love Mike at 37, and I [will] love him at 67,” he said. “There’s not gonna be any dossier or thing that happens that is going to make me say, ‘Screw that guy.’ That’s not the case.”