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Sean Tuohy, whose family’s relationship with future NFL star Michael Oher inspired the 2009 film “The Blind Side,” has addressed Oher’s allegations that he was never legally adopted, but instead was placed in a conservatorship that made the Tuohys rich.
“We’re devastated,” Tuohy told the Daily Memphian on Monday. “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.”
Oher filed a petition in Tennessee court earlier Monday alleging that Sean Tuohy and his wife, Leigh Anne Tuohy, tricked him at age 18 into signing papers that made them his conservators. He claimed they made millions from his story through various business deals stemming from the film, which became an Oscar-winning box office hit.
Oher specifically alleged that the Tuohys and their two children made $250,000 from the film and 2.5% in residuals. But Sean Tuohy denied that on Monday.
“We didn’t make any money off the movie,” Tuohy told the Memphian. “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.”
Tuohy said the family was “never offered” and “never asked” for any additional money as a result of Oher’s fame. He claimed their fortune was “well-documented,” likely referring to Tuohy’s reported sales of fast-food franchises like KFC and Taco Bell for $213 million.
While Tuohy admitted to the conservatorship, he decried Oher’s accusations of greed and dishonesty — and said the conservatorship came in good faith. He claimed the arrangement came about as a way to satisfy NCAA rules so Oher could play football for the University of Mississippi.
“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,” Tuohy told the Memphian. “We were so concerned it was on the up-and-up that we made sure the biological mother came to court.”
Tuohy said “it’s hard” to hear his estranged son make these allegations, but stated: “Whatever he wants, we’ll do.” He added the family would have been “very upset” if Oher came to them directly to ask if he could leave the family, but that they “absolutely would have done it.”
“No question, the allegations are insulting, but, look, it’s a crazy world,” said Tuohy. “You’ve got to live in it.”