The player who inspired the Oscar-winning ‘The Blind Side’ claims that his adoption was a lie

His story diffused racial tensions in a polarized country and highlighted the potential of sport to change lives. The Blind Side (A possible dream, in some countries) became a hit movie in 2009 that made one of her actresses, Sandra Bullock, win an Oscar for her performance. Bullock played Leigh Anne Tuohy, a woman who had welcomed into her family Michael Oher, a black teenager on the brink of homelessness who, thanks to his massive size, became an NFL offensive tackle. . Part of the great reception of the film, which grossed $300 million in the United States alone, was due to the fact that it told a story based on true events. This Monday, August 14, one of its flesh and blood protagonists has said that it was a lie. It was all a hoax that got him wrong, an accusation that has put a big cloud over one of Hollywood’s good vibes movies.

Oher, the former American football player, who is now 37 years old and retired, filed a court petition on Monday morning to end the guardianship of Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, who welcomed him into their evangelical and high-ranking family. resources 21 years ago. The story was told in a book by the famous writer Michael Lewis, who also brought his book Moneyball to the screen. The former athlete has requested in a court in Shelby County, Tennessee, a payment for damages for the use of his name and his life story. In the legal document, he claims the Tuohys became wealthy by “publicly and falsely” portraying themselves as his adoptive parents.

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Oher’s mother had 12 children. With crack addiction problems, she couldn’t take care of them. Shortly before his 11th birthday, Oher was sent to an orphanage. He tried his luck in some homes, but there was no chemistry with the families that opened their doors to him. He spent a few nights on the streets, which made his situation even more unstable. He went to 11 schools in nine years and repeated the first grades of school. His destiny changed thanks to his physical ability and for sports. The principal of a private, religious school in Memphis gave him the opportunity at the school, where he met the two biological children of the Tuohys. In high school, offers from universities began to arrive. Oher says that it was at that moment that the Tuohys began to bond, inviting him to stay home and asking him to call them “dad” and “mama”.

“Michael’s adoption lie is one that protectors Leigh Anne Tuohy and Sean Tuohy have enriched themselves with at the expense of their ward Mr. Oher,” the 14-page petition states. The document claims that he discovered the falsehood “to his chagrin and embarrassment” in February of this year. He then learned that the guardianship to which he voluntarily agreed months before his 18th birthday, in 2004, and with the idea that he would be part of the family, did not really give him any filial relationship with the Tuohys. Oher’s lawyers are also seeking compensation and sanctions for his alleged adoptive parents.

His complaint claims that the Tuohys, including the couple’s two biological children, received $225,000 and 2.5% of gross box office receipts for selling the adaptation rights to Lewis’s book to Hollywood. The player, the complaint indicates, gave through a contract and unknowingly the rights to tell about his life to 20th Century Fox “without any payment.” The legal representatives of the former athlete assure that no one explained to him the implications of having signed such a document. In a 2010 book, Leigh Anne claims that the money received for the tape was divided into five equal parts, including the player. Instead, Oher’s lawyers say he is the only one not receiving royalties for the film, which was nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture in 2010.

Sandra Bullock won an Oscar for her portrayal of Leigh Anne Tuohy in ‘The Blind Side.’ efe

Sean Tuohy has declared to the local Memphis press that guardianship was a requirement demanded by the NCAA, the National Association of Collegiate Athletes. The process would facilitate the signing of Oher with the team at the University of Mississippi, Sean’s alma mater, a usual step for college players before his arrival in the professional soccer league. Tuohy has told reporters that he will end the guardianship if that is what his son wants.

“We are completely devastated,” Sean Tuohy told The Daily Memphian newspaper. “It’s very sad to think that our goal was to make money with any of our children, but we are going to love Michael at 37 the same as we loved him when he was 16,” he said. Family lawyers have stated that Sean and Leigh Anne will respond to the court request in the coming days.

An adoption expert

The success of The Blind Side made Leigh Anne an authoritative voice on the subject of adoptions in the United States. Through its nonprofit Making it Happen Foundation, the organization offers hope, love and opportunity to those without it. Tuohy became a specialist and speaker on adoption families.

Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, with their daughter Collins, during a New York premiere in June 2013. ROBERT PITTS (Landov / Cordon Press)

The Tuohy family was represented by an agent from the powerful Creative Artists Agency, a talent management agency for the world of Hollywood entertainment, while Oher was represented by Debra Branan, a family friend, who registered with the court. the 2004 guardianship agreement. The closeness between Tuohy and Oher has been breaking down for several years. The adaptation of his life to the big screen had a lot to do, because the player never thought it was right that he was shown by the producers as unintelligent. “He’s not a fan of the movie,” one of Oher’s teammates on the Carolina Panthers, one of the teams he played for, said in 2015.

The Blind Side had generated a notoriety for him that he never sought. “I just want to be under the radar, be a humble guy, do my job and not attract attention,” Oher, who spent five seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, a team with which he reached the Super Bowl, said that year. In 2013 he left the East team to move to the Tennessee Titans, where he signed for four years and 20 million dollars. He had no luck in his home state, and he left the group after only one year. That’s when he went to the Panthers. “(Because of the movie) people don’t really appreciate my skills and the type of player that I am,” he told ESPN a few years ago.

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