'Blind Side' family says Michael Oher has tried 'shakedown' before, further unraveling a not-so-Hollywood ending
Hollywood endings are called Hollywood endings because that’s what they are — perfect closures on often complicated stories.
That now includes the idea that a wealthy family from the suburbs of Memphis could take in a disadvantaged but extremely talented inner city high school athlete, provide shelter, structure and schooling, and then have everyone live — and earn — happily ever after as he became a Super Bowl-winning NFL star.
At this point, it’s hard to tell who is right and who is wrong in the "Blind Side" battle that blindsided a lot of devoted fans of the inspiring and heartfelt story of Michael Oher and Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy.
The tale of the Tuohys bringing in “Big Mike” to their expansive family home and exclusive private school before he went on to star at Ole Miss and the Baltimore Ravens was first partially told in the 2006 mega-selling book “The Blind Side” by accomplished author Michael Lewis.
It then went global three years later via a movie of the same name, including an Oscar-winning turn from Sandra Bullock playing Leigh Anne.
Sure, the film glossed over some things and trumped up other things.
The Touhys, for example, didn’t discover Oher out on the streets of Memphis. He was already enrolled at the private school where they sent their children. And he wasn’t some bumbling project that Leigh Anne helped turn into a star. He had been named all-state as a junior and was already a noted college recruit.
With a troubled family, he often slept at the homes of classmates to cut down on the commute from the Hurt Village section of Memphis out to the suburbs, but, according to Oher, he didn’t start staying with the Tuohys until the summer before his senior year.
That’s how movies work though. They are based on a true story. They are inspired by a true story.
Now who knows what the true story was or is. Even defining what’s “true” likely depends on who is doing the telling.
Or perhaps it’s best left to the courts.
On Monday, Oher filed a lawsuit in Shelby County, Tennessee, alleging the Tuohys used and misled him for decades. He claims they saw him as “a gullible young man who could be exploited for their own benefit.”
The Tuohys responded Tuesday in a statement by saying the lawsuit was “ludicrous” and just the latest “shakedown” by Oher to get money from the family.
He alleges that soon after he moved in with them, he was duped into signing papers that he thought would start the adoption process but actually placed him in a conservatorship under their control. As such, he was unable to “enter contracts or bind himself without direct approval” of the Tuohys.
The big issue came when the family, the lawsuit alleges, entered into a deal with 20th Century Fox to pay them and their two birth children $225,000 each plus 2.5 percent of the film’s “defined net proceeds.” The movie has grossed over $300 million. Oher said he didn’t get paid and still doesn’t control his rights.
“The lie of Michael's adoption is one upon which Co-Conservators Leigh Anne Tuohy and Sean Tuohy have enriched themselves at the expense of [Oher]," the lawsuit reads.
The family has yet to respond in court, but Sean Tuohy told the Daily Memphian that they couldn’t legally adopt Oher because he turned 18 the summer before his senior year and conservatorship was the only way he could still play under NCAA rules at Ole Miss, where he and Leigh Anne were alums and boosters.
Oher’s college eligibility was a plot point in the movie, with NCAA investigators painted as the villains but, perhaps in hindsight, attuned to the realities of the situation.
Sean Tuohy also disputed the family made big money off the movie, saying that Lewis gave them a cut of his payout and they shared it equally ($14,000 per person) among the family, Oher included. Meanwhile, Sean Tuohy Jr. — who is known as “SJ” in the movie — told Barstool Radio that he’s been paid about $60,000-$70,000 in royalties through the years.
Tuohy Sr., who made millions in the fast food industry, told the Daily Memphian the allegations are “insulting” and “devastating” and that “it’s upsetting that people would think I would want to make money off any of my children.” The family said Oher has, across the years, “actually attempted to run this play several times” only to have previous lawyers quit when they saw the evidence.
What did or did not happen back in 2004, let alone since, remains to be sorted out. It’s clear Oher and the Tuohys have had their ups and downs through the years, although that can happen to any family. Oher has never liked his portrayal in the movie, which made him out to be mostly naive and helpless.
He’s 37 now and willing to blow the whole narrative up to get what he sees as control of his life back.
The motivation of the Tuohys has always been a question. Did they really just want to do a good deed and help a kid in need out? Or did they see a star player they could guide to their favorite college team?
The former is what blockbuster movies are made from. The latter a lot less so. Reality is probably in the middle.
The facts are still to come.
In the meantime, millions of fans of a joyous story that seemed so perfect and so powerful are left to wonder what happened to their favorite movie.
That’s how the real world works though. Few things end as Hollywood would write it.
