An attorney for Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy says that the couple plan to voluntarily terminate their conservatorship over retired NFL player, Michael Oher.
For context, Michael — whose life story served as inspiration for The Blind Side in 2009 — contested the conservatorship in a legal petition filed on Monday, claiming that the Tuohy family tricked him into signing the papers as a teenager under the belief that he was being adopted by them, as is portrayed in the film.
Instead, he alleges that the conservatorship — which he signed in 2004, shortly after turning 18 — put the Tuohys in charge of his personal and financial affairs, and allowed them to negotiate a multimillion-dollar business deal to make a movie based on his falsified life story, from which he claims to have profited nothing.
The Blind Side grossed more than $300 million globally and earned two Academy Award nominations in 2010, with Sandra Bullock winning the Oscar for Best Actress for her portrayal of Leigh Anne.
Michael’s lawsuit alleges that he received no compensation for the movie he inspired, while the Tuohys and their birth children, Collins and SJ Tuohy, each earned $225,000, on top of 2.5% of the film’s “defined net proceeds.”
Despite the conservatorship giving him “no familial relationship with the Tuohys,” Michael claims that the family have wrongly deceived him and the general public into thinking that he is their adopted son, in order “to gain financial advantages for themselves and the foundations which they own or which they exercise control.”
An attorney for the Tuohys issued a statement on Tuesday refuting Michael’s “hurtful” and “absurd” claims, saying that the accusation that they exploited him for money is “not only offensive,” but “transparently ridiculous.”
The statement, written by the family’s lawyer, Marty Singer, alleges that Michael has received his “equal cut” of the profits from The Blind Side.
The Tuohys confirmed that Michael is involved in a conservatorship, but said that they’ve not earned any money from it. They also allege that they’ve always been “upfront” with Michael about the arrangement, despite his claim that he only found out about the conservatorship in February this year.
The decision comes after they accused Michael of allegedly attempting to “threaten” them in a $15 million “shakedown effort.”
“They have continued to treat him like a son and one of their three children,” they claim. “His response was to threaten them, including saying that he would plant a negative story about them in the press unless they paid him $15 million.”
Michael has not responded to the claims. BuzzFeed has contacted his representatives for comment.
Source: https://www.buzzfeed.com/ellendurney/the-blind-side-tuohy-end-michael-oher-conservatorship