Sean Tuohyhas spoken out about former NFL playerMichael Oher’s legal petition, which alleges that theTuohy familydid not legally adopt him but tricked him into making them his conservators before making millions from his falsified life story, which was depicted inThe Blind Side.
“We’re devastated,” Tuohy told theDaily Memphian. “It’s upsetting to think we would make money off any of our children. But we’re going to love Michael at 37 just like we loved him at 16.”
Michael Oher, the former NFL player whose story was depicted in the 2009 Academy Award-winning movieThe Blind Side, filed a petition Monday seeking to dissolve the conservatorship alleging Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy did not legally adopt him.
Matthew Sharpe/Getty
During anappearance at the New Orleans Book Festivalin March, Lewis said he was a high school classmate of Sean Tuohy.
Oher alleges that each of the four Tuohy family members — Sean, Leigh Anne and their two children — made $250,000 outright from the movie, according to the petition, in addition to 2.5% in residuals.
Sean Tuohy disputed that. “We were never offered money; we never asked for money. My money is well-documented; you can look up how much I sold my company for,” said the 63-year-old, who has worked as a sports commentator while also owning a string of fast-food franchises.
“The last thing I needed was 40 grand from a movie,” Tuohy added. “I will say it’s upsetting that people would think I would want to make money off any of my children.”
In Michael Oher’s petition, he claims to still be under the Tuohy family conservatorship.Leigh Anne Tuohy/ Instagram
Leigh Anne Tuohy/ Instagram
Tuohy insisted the conservatorship that prompted the filing of Monday’s petition was unrelated to the movie. Rather, it was a way to appease theNCAA, the nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics, when it appeared Oher was likely to play football at theUniversity of Mississippi.
Tuohy was an All-American point guard at the Southern university known as “Ole Miss” and an active supporter of the school. As such, he would qualify as a “booster” under NCAA rules.
“Michael was obviously living with us for a long time, and the NCAA didn’t like that,” Tuohy told theDaily Memphian. “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.”
Tuohy said that while he and his family had remained close with Oher following the film’s release in 2009, he began to notice some distance “maybe a year and a half ago.”
“It’s upsetting, but it’s life, what are you going to do? Certain people will believe us and certain people won’t," Tuohy said. “No question, the allegations are insulting, but, look, it’s a crazy world. You’ve got to live in it. It’s obviously upset everybody.”
“It’s hard because you have to defend yourself, but whatever he wants, we’ll do. We’re not in this for anything other than whatever he wants. If he’d have said, ‘I don’t want to be part of the family anymore,’ we’d have been very upset, but we absolutely would have done it," he continued.
When asked whether the Tuohys would be willing to end their conservatorship of 37-year-old Oher, Tuohy responded, “I want whatever Michael wants."
source: people.com
