Michael Oher Opens Up About Tuohy Lawsuit

Last year former pro football player, Michael Oher, subject of the movie "The Blind Side," sued the Tuohy family for lying about adopting him, while secretly placing him in a conservatorship normally used for disabled people instead [click here if you missed that]. 

Michael explains why he filed...

From Eonline

Michael Oher is sharing his perspective.

After filing a lawsuit against the Tuohy family last year, the 38-year-old subject of the Oscar-winning film The Blind Side, has spoken out about his estrangement from Sean Tuohy and Leigh Anne Tuohy amid the legal battle.

“For a long time, I was so angry mentally,” the former NFL star told The New York Times. “With what I was going through. I want to be the person I was before The Blind Side, personality-wise. I’m still working on it.”

Oher, who is suing the Tuohy family for exploiting his name, image, and likeness to promote speaking engagements that have allegedly earned them millions, said that he chose not to speak out at the time the 2009 film starring Sandra Bullock and Quinton Aaron was released because he was focused on the start of his professional career with the Baltimore Ravens.

“Pro football’s a hard job,” he said. “You have to be locked in 100 percent. I went along with their narrative because I really had to focus on my NFL career, not things off the field.”

Oher also fought back against claims that he is now suing the Tuohy family because he needs money.

“I worked hard for that moment when I was done playing, and saved my money so I could enjoy the time,” the father of four said. “I’ve got millions of dollars. I’m fine.”

The lawsuit is ongoing with the next hearing set for October, and if it reaches trial, it will likely not take place until next year.

 

Oher also addressed the text messages between himself and the Tuohy family, included in a December legal filing from the ongoing lawsuit obtained by People, in which they claimed he began demanding money, calling them “thieves.”

“I was just still trying to figure things out,” Oher said of the texts. “I didn’t think anything of it.”

Oher claimed that the texts “lit a fuse” and said he began to receive royalty checks for the film for the first time. However, the Tuohys have said that he had already been receiving royalties, a claim he denies.

Oher’s relationship with the Tuohy family has been further strained by the claim that he was adopted despite an adoption never taking place. Oher was placed under a conservatorship, despite not having any disability, and the Tuohys referred to him as their “adopted son,” as was noted in the lawsuit.

In an affidavit obtained by The New York Times as a part of the ongoing lawsuit, Leigh Anne said her use of the word adopted, “was always meant in its colloquial sense, to describe the family relationship we felt with Mr. Oher; it was never meant as a legal term of art.”