Movies based on true events take creative licenses all the time. But there’s a difference between inflating a couple of details to buffer out a film’s edges and flat-out lying out of your teeth. Michael Oher, the retired NFL player whose name and life story is enshrined in the Oscar-winning movie The Blind Side, has come forth with disturbing allegations that husband and wife Leigh Ann and Sean Tuohy, played by Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw in the movie, never actually adopted him as audiences were led to believe. What is more, Oher claims he never even saw a dime from the film’s profit.
Shortly after turning 18 in 2004, Leigh Ann and Sean Tuohy handed Oher paperwork to sign, paperwork that he assumed made him their legal son. However, in February of 2023, Oher claims he discovered he had zero familiar relationship to Leigh Ann and Sean, legally speaking. According to a 14-page petition obtained by ESPN, the couple “tricked him into signing a document making them his conservators, which gave them legal authority to make business deals in his name.”
The document asserts that Leigh Ann and Sean used their power as co-conservators to strike a deal with Warner Bros. Pictures that ensured they received millions of dollars in royalties from the film, while Oher “got nothing.” Oher is asking the court to end the conservatorship and receive a fair share of the profit he is owed.
The ordeal, bad enough as it is, becomes more troubling when recalling the soon-to-be infamous words actor Quinton Aaron once said to Oher in 2015 after the NFL player claimed the movie hurt his career. According to TMZ, Aaron told Oher to quit complaining because he was — get this — a millionaire with an amazing family who loves him.
“You gotta at some point notice the amount of people’s lives this movie has touched in a positive, encouraging and inspiring manner. At the end of the day bro you are a millionaire, you’re famous, you are a SuperBowl Champ, you have an amazing family that loves you, friends, fans and teammates.
“Who gives a damn about what people say or think who wanna criticize your game bro, that shouldn’t matter. Somebody is always gonna have something to say that you’re not gonna like. So what, you had a couple bad seasons, I believe you’ve got a lot more fuel in the tank so let’s start hashing out some good ones and forget what people think about you. I got your back brotha God Bless!”
Aaron’s comments don’t appear to be delivered with malice, but nonetheless, hindsight and recent developments have cast an unflattering light on them all the same. Per Oher’s petition filed in Shelby County, Tennessee, Leigh Ann and Sean struck a deal with 20th Century Fox that granted them and their two children each $225,000 in addition to 2.5% of the film’s net proceeds. Meanwhile, Oher forfeited any payment for the rights to his name, likeness, and life story.
So, no, Oher did not receive millions from The Blind Side, at least according to his petition. That’s not to say he hasn’t enjoyed a lucrative football career, but this rags-to-riches story we thought we knew so well is far more complicated than anyone could have realized. And twice as disappointing.
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