Photo:Leigh Anne Tuohy/ Instagram
Leigh Anne Tuohy/ Instagram
Michael Oher referred to Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy as his “legal conservators” in his 2011 memoir,ESPNreports, seemingly counter tohis claims that he only learned of the conservatorship earlier this year.
InI Beat The Odds: From Homelessness, to The Blind Side, and Beyond, theformer NFL player wrote aboutlegally joining the Tuohy family, and while he does call them his “conservators,” Oher also says Leigh Anne and Sean told him it would make them “pretty much the exact same thing as ‘adoptive parents.’ "
Oher writes that the couple, who took him in while he was in high school, “had already assumed responsibility for me as guardians, which allowed them to sign my school permission slips and take me to medical appointments.”
Oher’s disclosure via his 12-year-old book is counter to the petition he filed to end the conservatorship on Monday, where he claimed he found out in February 2023 that the Tuohys never legally adopted him, “much to his chagrin and embarrassment.”
In the petition, Oher alleges they tricked him into signing paperwork that placed him in a conservatorship at 18 years old. The 2004 conservatorship filing stated that he “shall not be allowed to enter into any contracts or bind himself without the direct approval of his conservators,” according to Oher’s filing.
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Oher also alleged in his petition that the Tuohys — including their two birth children, Collins Tuohy and Sean Tuohy Jr. — were paid $225,000 forThe Blind Sideplus 2.5% of the film’s proceeds and did not include him.
Asource close to the film tells PEOPLEthe Tuohys have received approximately $700,000 total in rights, payments and profits, which was intended to be divided between the family members — Sean, Leigh Anne, their two biological children and Oher.
“If that’s what he wants to do is terminate it, we’re glad to do so,” said attorney Randall Fishman. “As a matter of fact, it is our intent to offer to enter into a consent order as it relates to the conservatorship, and then if they have other issues, we’ll deal with them.”
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When asked why Leigh Anne and Sean created a conservatorship for Oher rather than adopting him, as they have previously claimed, Fishman said, “It didn’t make any difference to the Tuohys,” and that they believed the conservatorship would help with NCAA regulations.
Oher’s representatives tell PEOPLEthat they intend to seek justice in court.
source: people.com
