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Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy, both 63, have yet to respond to Michael Oher‘s legal petition to be removed from a conservatorship by the family. The former NFL player, 37, claimed that who he once believed to be his adopted mom and dad didn’t actually adopt him and that they denied him the ability to make money for years due to the conservatorship. Now, the couple’s son, Sean “SJ” Tuohy Jr., 30, spoke out and seemingly defended his parents during an Aug. 14 interview with Barstool Sports.
Michael Oher’s brother SJ Tuohy joined @BarstoolRadio to speak on the lawsuit from Michael Oher’s team pic.twitter.com/g1z2dhoIxg
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) August 14, 2023
“I’m going to preface this by saying I loved Mike at 16… I love Mike now at 37 and I love him at 67, ” SJ said during the podcast interview. He went on to add that he found it “hard to believe” the timeline of when Michael discovered the alleged conservatorship. “If he says that he learned that in February I find that hard to believe,” the 30-year-old said.
SJ also dove into some of the alleged specifics of how much he made from the hit movie, The Blind Side, which made his brother and family famous. “I think it’s like 2.5 percent,” he told the outlet. “[I] have made 60 or 70 grand over the course of the last four to five years.” He claimed that one of his first checks was around $14K but later “went down” in the amount over the years. His parents have yet to release a statement at the time of this publishing.
How much money were they making off the movie?https://t.co/oPfwQeEjKZ pic.twitter.com/1s4dBETZDT
— Barstool Radio (@BarstoolRadio) August 14, 2023
The family’s story served as the basis for the 2006 book The Blind Side, which was adapted into the Academy Award-winning 2009 film of the same name. Leigh Anne was played by Sandra Bullock, who won an Oscar for her performance. Sean was played by country singer Tim McGraw. Quinton Aaron played Michael. Part of Michael’s legal filing said that he made no money from the film, which grossed over $300 million, according to NBC News. He claimed that even though he’d signed a document allowing for his life rights to be made into a movie.
In the petition, Michael claimed that as the family offered to adopt him after he’d turned 18, they had told him that the paperwork would be under the title of a conservatorship, which was supposed to be ended when he was 25, but has not been ended. The filing said that Michael didn’t learn about the conservatorship until February 2023.
“Since at least August of 2004, Conservators have allowed Michael, specifically, and the public, generally, to believe that Conservators adopted Michael and have used that untruth to gain financial advantages for themselves and the foundations which they own or which they exercise control,” the filing said. “At no point did the Tuohys inform Michael that they would have ultimate control of all his contracts, and as a result Michael did not understand that if the Conservatorship was granted, he was signing away his right to contract for himself.”
Since the book and movie were such successes, the couple released the joint book In A Heartbeat: Sharing The Power Of Cheerful Giving in 2010, and Leigh Anne has also released another book: Turn Around: Reach Out, Give Back, and Get Moving. The pair also have their non-profit: Making It Happen Foundation.
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