Michael Oher Roy Rochlin/Getty Images
Michael Oher is speaking out about his former foster family, the Tuohys, in his first interview since filing a lawsuit against them last year and dissolving his conservatorship.
The NFL star’s life story inspired the 2009 Sandra Bullock movie The Blind Side, but he told the New York Times that the film negatively “defined” him in pro football circles before he ever played a down.
“The NFL people were wondering if I could read a playbook,” Oher told the outlet. “I started seeing stuff that I’m dumb. I’m stupid. Every article about me mentioned The Blind Side like it was part of my name.”
He is concerned that the perception will affect his five children, whom he shares with wife Tiffany, adding, “If my kids can’t do something in class, will their teacher think, ‘Their dad is dumb — is that why they’re not getting it?’”
Oher, 38, was in foster care as a teenager. He was taken in by Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, a wealthy family from his hometown of Memphis. Oher was placed in a conservatorship after he turned 18, which was dissolved after Oher filed a lawsuit in 2023. The Super Bowl champion told the Times that the Tuohys manipulated him into signing away the rights to his name, image and likeness.
“The first time I heard ‘I love you,’ it was Sean and Leigh Anne [Tuohy] saying it. When that happens at 18, you become vulnerable,” he said. “You let your guard down and then you get everything stripped from you. It turns into a hurt feeling.”
He added, “I don’t want to make this about race, but what I found out was that nobody says ‘I love you’ more than coaches and white people. When Black people say it, they mean it.”
In Oher’s filing, he claimed that he saw no proceeds from The Blind Side. That version of events was countered by a filing from the Tuohys that showed they paid Oher more than $138,000 from the film’s proceeds.
The Tuohys claimed that Oher was attempting to extort them for $15 million.
Sandra Bullock and Quinton Aaron starred in the biographical sports film The Blind Side, bringing a supposed true story to life. The Blind Side was based on Michael Lewis’ 2006 book, The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game. The movie, released in November 2009, followed athlete Michael Oher’s (Aaron) journey to the NFL after being […]
“Perhaps because he was no longer making a significant amount of money as a professional athlete, Mr. Oher became increasingly estranged from the Tuohys, believing incorrectly that they had not paid him the money he was owed,” the filing read.
Oher waved off the idea that he was desperate for money in his interview with the Times. He said that he was frugal across his eight seasons in the NFL and has “millions of dollars” to his name.
“I worked hard for that moment when I was done playing, and saved my money so I could enjoy the time,” he said, saying the timing of his filing was due to the demanding nature of his former profession.
“Pro football’s a hard job. You have to be locked in 100 percent,” he said. “I went along with their narrative because I really had to focus on my NFL career, not things off the field.”
Oher’s interview is the first time that he’s spoken on the lawsuit, aside from an initial statement when news broke of the filing.
“I am disheartened by the revelation shared in the lawsuit today,” Oher said at the time. “This is a difficult situation for my family and me. I want to ask everyone to please respect our privacy at this time.”
