UPDATE 8/14/23 10:24 PM EST: Sean Tuohy has responded to Michael Oher‘s claims that he and his wife never adopted him with a statement to The Daily Memphian. “We’re devastated,” he told the outlet hours after news broke regarding Michael’s petition. “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.”
The 63-year-old went on to claim that he and his wife did not profit off the film, The Blind Side. “We didn’t make any money off the movie,” he alleged. “Well, Michael Lewis (the author of the book ‘The Blind Side’) gave us half of his share. Everybody in the family got an equal share, including Michael. It was about $14,000, each. 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.”
Sean went continued to discuss the money surrounding the film and noted that it was the “last thing” he needed. “The last thing I needed was 40 grand from a movie,” he said. “I will say it’s upsetting that people would think I would want to make money off any of my children.”
Furthermore, Sean addressed Michael’s conservatorship claims. “Michael was obviously living with us for a long time, and the NCAA didn’t like that,” Sean claimed. “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.”
The restaurateur made sure to note that he is willing to end the conservatorship if that is what Michael wants. “Of course,” he told the local outlet. “I want whatever Michael wants.” He concluded the statement by claiming that they will not stand in the former athlete’s way if he wants to distance himself from the Tuohy family. “It’s upsetting, but it’s life, what are you going to do? Certain people will believe us and certain people won’t. It’s hard because you have to defend yourself, but whatever he wants, we’ll do,” Sean said.
“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 added. “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.”
ORIGINAL STORY: Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy, both 63, have yet to respond to Michael Oher‘s legal petition to be removed from a conservatorship by the family. The former NFL player, 37, claimed that who he once believed to be his adopted mom and dad didn’t actually adopt him and that they denied him the ability to make money for years due to the conservatorship. Now, the couple’s son, Sean “SJ” Tuohy Jr., 30, spoke out and seemingly defended his parents during an Aug. 14 interview with Barstool Sports.
Michael Oher's brother SJ Tuohy joined @BarstoolRadio to speak on the lawsuit from Michael Oher's team pic.twitter.com/g1z2dhoIxg
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) August 14, 2023
“I’m going to preface this by saying I loved Mike at 16… I love Mike now at 37 and I love him at 67, ” SJ said during the podcast interview. He went on to add that he found it “hard to believe” the timeline of when Michael discovered the alleged conservatorship. “If he says that he learned that in February I find that hard to believe,” the 30-year-old said.
SJ also dove into some of the alleged specifics of how much he made from the hit movie, The Blind Side, which made his brother and family famous. “I think it’s like 2.5 percent,” he told the outlet. “[I] have made 60 or 70 grand over the course of the last four to five years.” He claimed that one of his first checks was around $14K but later “went down” in the amount over the years. His parents have yet to release a statement at the time of this publishing.
How much money were they making off the movie?https://t.co/oPfwQeEjKZ pic.twitter.com/1s4dBETZDT
— Barstool Radio (@BarstoolRadio) August 14, 2023
The family’s story served as the basis for the 2006 book The Blind Side, which was adapted into the Academy Award-winning 2009 film of the same name. Leigh Anne was played by Sandra Bullock, who won an Oscar for her performance. Sean was played by country singer Tim McGraw. Quinton Aaron played Michael. Part of Michael’s legal filing said that he made no money from the film, which grossed over $300 million, according to NBC News. He claimed that even though he’d signed a document allowing for his life rights to be made into a movie.
In the petition, Michael claimed that as the family offered to adopt him after he’d turned 18, they had told him that the paperwork would be under the title of a conservatorship, which was supposed to be ended when he was 25, but has not been ended. The filing said that Michael didn’t learn about the conservatorship until February 2023.
“Since at least August of 2004, Conservators have allowed Michael, specifically, and the public, generally, to believe that Conservators adopted Michael and have used that untruth to gain financial advantages for themselves and the foundations which they own or which they exercise control,” the filing said. “At no point did the Tuohys inform Michael that they would have ultimate control of all his contracts, and as a result Michael did not understand that if the Conservatorship was granted, he was signing away his right to contract for himself.”
Since the book and movie were such successes, the couple released the joint book In A Heartbeat: Sharing The Power Of Cheerful Giving in 2010, and Leigh Anne has also released another book: Turn Around: Reach Out, Give Back, and Get Moving. The pair also have their non-profit: Making It Happen Foundation.