The Blind Side couple Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy have surfaced publicly for the first time since Michael Oher filed a lawsuit against them. Leigh Anneand Sean were seen walking together through their Santa Rosa Beach neighborhood in Florida on August 20, as seen in photos on Daily Mail.
Leigh Anne looked casual in a white T-shirt, light pink skirt, and bright pink fanny pack. Sean wore an orange shirt and navy pants. The couple walked alongside an unidentified man outside their Florida mansion.
Leigh Anne and Sean have been dealing with the fallout of Michael alleging that they tricked him into becoming his conservator in a bombshell lawsuit filed on August 14. Michael, whose life story inspired the Oscar-winning 2009 movie The Blind Side, claimed in his court filing that the Tuohys led him to believe they adopted him and “have used that untruth to gain financial advantages for themselves and the foundations which they own or which they exercise control.”
Michael revealed in the court documents that he did not know about the conservatorship until February 2023, and the conservatorship was supposed to end when he was 25. He’s now 37.
The Tuohys eventually responded to Michael’s lawsuit. Sean told The Daily Memphian that he and Leigh Anne were “devastated” over the situation. “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,” he said.
Sean claimed that lawyers told him and Leigh Anne years ago that they “couldn’t adopt” Michael since he was over 18, and the “only thing we could do was to have a conservatorship” so Michael could go to Ole Miss and play football. Sean revealed that he supports whatever Michael decides to do. “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,” the restaurateur said.
Michael broke his silence regarding the lawsuit and said in a statement to the New York Post that he was “disheartened by the revelation” in the petition. The former NFL player admitted that “this is a difficult situation for my family and me. I want to ask everyone to please respect our privacy at this time. For now, I will let the lawsuit speak for itself and will offer no further comment.”
Three days after the lawsuit was filed, Leigh Anne and Sean disclosed through their lawyers that they would be ending the conservatorship for Michael. Their lawyers claimed in a press conference that Michael and Tuohys had been estranged for over a decade.