Michael Oher, known for the movie The Blind Side, says he was never adopted

NFL pro with a Hollywood-ready life story: Michael Oher in San Diego in 2012

Photo: Harry How/ Getty Images

His mother a drug addict, his father in prison: Michael Oher grew up in difficult circumstances. Encouraged by a foster mother, the teenager matures into a football player. Hollywood also recognized that this can be the material for the finest feel-good cinema. "The Blind Side" became a hit in 2009, Sandra Bullock in the role of foster mother Leigh Anne Tuohy won an Oscar for her performance – and Oher won the Super Bowl a few years later.

A story with a happy ending, then? Maybe not. The now 37-year-old Oher had criticized the film and the portrayal of his person in it early on. On Monday, Oher filed a petition in a Tennessee court, according to consistent media reports, stating that Oher was never legally adopted by the Tuohys. Rather, he was lied to and thus made to sign paper that would not make the Tuohys his adoptive parents, but merely his guardians – so that they could earn millions with his life story.

"The lie of Michael's adoption is a lie by which Leigh Anne Tuohy and Sean Tuohy enriched themselves at the expense of their ward," the file reads. Thus, after Oher's signature, the Tuohys had concluded numerous transactions in which money had flowed into the accounts of the couple and their two now adult biological children. Oher, who, according to the file, did not sign the guardianship document until after his 18th birthday, did not see any of it.

»Totally off the mark«

A lawyer for the Tuohys told the AP news agency that they would file a response to the allegations in court. Sean Tuohy told The Daily Memphian: "We are devastated. The thought that we would make money with one of our children is devastating. But we'll love Michael at 37 as much as we loved him when we were 16."

Oher was never happy with the film about his life. No one had talked to him, he said at the time, no director, no actor, no PR department. Impoverished boy from a neglected home, adopted by rich whites, makes it into the NFL – that was apparently enough for the creators as a basis. Above all, he didn't like the football part, Oher said at the time. The depiction of his person was "totally wrong". I learned the game from an early age. No one had to teach me how to block." Oher alludes to one of the key scenes of the film, in which Bullock, as football fan Tuohy, shows the boy how to successfully stand in the way of an opponent.

Damages and share of profits

So now the lawsuit. Why only now? Oher only discovered the so-called lie in February 2023. Up to this point, he had assumed "that the guardianship would make him a member of the Tuohy family, while in reality it did not provide him with a family relationship with the Tuohys," the file says. At no point did the Tuohys inform Michael that they would have ultimate control over all of his contracts, and as a result, Michael did not understand that if guardianship was granted, he would give up his right to enter into contracts for himself with his signature," the petition reads.

According to the information, Oher wants to end the guardianship of the Tuohys and prohibit them from using his name and image. He also demands a statement of what the Tuohys have earned with his name, as well as his share of the profits and unspecified damages.

sak/AP