Sean Tuohy responded on Monday to the allegations he and his family are facing from Michael Oher, calling them “insulting.”
Oher, who was taken in by the Tuohy family during high school and later went on to an NFL career, sued the Tuohy family in probate court in Tennessee on Monday. Oher is seeking to end the conservatorship he has with the Tuohy family. He alleges the Tuohy family received a favorable share of money off the popular 2009 movie “The Blind Side,” which was based on the story of the Tuohy family taking in Oher, while he Oher did not receive a favorable deal.
Oher is also seeking compensatory and punitive damages from the Tuohy family (more details here).
Tuohy, who is the father of the family that took in Oher, spoke with the Daily Memphian’s Geoff Calkins to respond to Oher’s allegations.
Tuohy told Calkins that the family signed a conservatorship with Oher for college football reasons. Tuohy says that in the state of Tennessee, someone over the age of 18 cannot be legally adopted. However, the parties signed a conservatorship so that Oher could play college football at Ole Miss.
Tuohy is a former Ole Miss athlete and was regarded by the NCAA, the organization that oversees college athletics, as a “booster.” The only way Oher could have avoided an unfair inducement/gifts violation in the eyes of the NCAA would have been to be part of the Tuohy family. Tuohy said that Oher knew and understood that and agreed to the conservatorship. Oher ended up attending Ole Miss, playing on their football team from 2005-2008.
As for the allegation about “The Blind Side” movie, Tuohy told Calkins that the family did not make any money from the film. Tuohy said that Michael Lewis, the author of the book upon which the movie was based, gave the Tuohys half of the money he received from the film. Tuohy said that they split the money five ways and that everybody got an equal share — about $14,000 each. The money was split between the Tuohy parents (Sean and Leigh Anne) as well as the children (Sean Jr., Collins, and Oher).
Tuohy owned several fast food franchises prior to the family taking in Oher and was already very wealthy well before the movie. He just sold his businesses for $213 million, according to reports. That’s why he found Oher’s allegations that they were trying to keep money from the former offensive lineman to be insulting.
“The last thing I needed was 40 grand from a movie,” Tuohy told the Daily Memphian. “I will say it’s upsetting that people would think I would want to make money off any of my children.”
The Tuohys will be responding to Oher’s legal filing. Tuohy said that they will grant Oher whatever he wants, including ending the conservatorship. He said all they want is whatever Oher wants.
Tuohy also noted that despite the family being close in the past, they noticed a schism growing with Oher about a year and a half ago, but said they never expected to be hit with these “insulting” allegations.
