Former NFL star Michael Oher grew to become a family identify when his rags-to-riches story grew to become the Oscar-winning film The Blind Side, that includes Sandra Bullock.
Now the ex-athlete has claimed in a lawsuit that the adoption story behind the hit film was a lie and that Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, the white couple from Memphis who took him in as a highschool scholar, made tens of millions off his identify whereas slicing him out of the riches.
And his authorized petition filed in probate courtroom in Shelby County, Tennessee, stunningly claims that the couple by no means truly adopted him regardless of that being a central plot within the story and a declare they’ve repeatedly made.
But Sean Tuohy later informed the Daily Memphian that Oher’s claims have “devastated” the household and defended not adopting him.
“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,” he stated.
And he added: “We didn’t make any money off the movie. Well, Michael Lewis, the [author of the book on which the movie was based] gave us half of his share. Everybody in the family got an equal share, including Michael. It was about $14,000, each.”
Here are the 5 most stunning revelations from the courtroom paperwork:
The Tuohy household grew to become near Oher when his athletic expertise grew to become clear
Oher was one in every of 12 kids born to a mom who struggled with drug dependancy. He was positioned in foster care earlier than his eleventh birthday and in addition hung out dwelling on the streets. He attended 11 faculties in 9 years, however within the tenth grade, he started attending a Christian non-public faculty in Memphis after being launched to the principal.
He went on to turn out to be probably the greatest soccer gamers within the nation and the petition says that when his abilities grew to become apparent the Tuohys solid a detailed relationship with him. The household requested him to recurrently keep at their residence within the metropolis and finally made the association everlasting. The petition says they inspired him to name them “mom” and pop.”
FILE – Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy stand on a road in New Orleans, Feb. 1, 2013.
(AP)
Tuohy household by no means adopted Oher however obtained him to signal conservatorship
The petition says that the household didn’t in actual fact undertake Oher, however when he turned 18 in 2004 obtained him to signal a conservatorship, giving them the ability to make enterprise offers utilizing his identify.
And Oher’s legal professionals say that he didn’t discover out that he was not truly a authorized a part of the household in February 2023.
“Michael Oher discovered this lie to his chagrin and embarrassment in February of 2023, when he learned that the Conservatorship to which he consented on the basis that doing so would make him a member of the Tuohy family, in fact, provided him no familial relationship with the Tuohys.”
Tuohy household will get paid for The Blind Side however Oher will get reduce out of deal for his life story
Court paperwork state that the Tuoys negotiated a film deal about their relationship with Oher following the 2006 launch of the ebook The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game.
According to the submitting, the film deal paid the Tuohys and their two organic kids $225,000 every, in addition to 2.5 per cent of the film’s “defined net proceeds.” The film was a success and grossed greater than $300m.
FILE – Michael Oher, left, Collins Tuohy, second from left, and Leigh Anne Tuohy, whose lives are portrayed within the Oscar-nominated film “The Blind Side,” converse with Pastor Kerry Shook, proper, March 3, 2010 at Woodlands Church’s Fellowship Campus in The Woodlands, TX.
(AP)
The petition says that in 2007 Oher signed a separate contract with twentieth Century Fox Studios to “give away” the rights to his life story “without any payment whatsoever.” Oher’s legal professionals say that he has no recollection of signing the contract, and if he did nobody defined what it meant.
The Tuoys have at all times stated they cut up the cash 5 methods, with Oher getting a reduce. The petition states that he by no means obtained any cash from the film.
Oher hated the best way he was portrayed within the film
Oher’s belief within the Tuohys started to interrupt down following the success of The Blind Side, in response to his lawyer J Gerard Stranch IV.
“Mike’s relationship with the Tuohy family started to decline when he discovered that he was portrayed in the movie as unintelligent,” Mr Stranch stated.
“Their relationship continued to deteriorate as he learned that he was the only member of the family not receiving royalty checks from the movie, and it was permanently fractured when he realized he wasn’t adopted and a part of the family.”
Oher asks courtroom to impose injunction on Tuohys stopping them from utilizing his identify
The petition asks the courtroom to finish the conservatorship and to challenge an injunction stopping the household from utilizing his identify and likeness.
Oher additionally desires a full accounting of the cash the household has made utilizing his identify and to be paid a justifiable share of the income. He can also be searching for unspecified punitive and compensatory damages.
Source: www.impartial.co.uk
