Michael Oher Roy Rochlin/Getty Photos
Michael Oher is talking out about his former foster household, the Tuohys, in his first interview since submitting a lawsuit towards them final 12 months and dissolving his conservatorship.
The NFL star’s life story impressed the 2009 Sandra Bullock film The Blind Facet, however he advised the New York Instances that the movie negatively “outlined” him in professional soccer circles earlier than he ever performed a down.
“The NFL individuals had been questioning if I may learn a playbook,” Oher advised the outlet. “I began seeing stuff that I’m dumb. I’m silly. Each article about me talked about The Blind Facet prefer it was a part of my identify.”
He’s involved that the notion will have an effect on his 5 youngsters, whom he shares with spouse Tiffany, including, “If my children can’t do one thing in school, will their trainer assume, ‘Their dad is dumb — is that why they’re not getting it?’”
Oher, 38, was in foster care as a youngster. He was taken in by Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, a rich household from his hometown of Memphis. Oher was positioned in a conservatorship after he turned 18, which was dissolved after Oher filed a lawsuit in 2023. The Tremendous Bowl champion advised the Instances that the Tuohys manipulated him into signing away the rights to his identify, picture and likeness.
“The primary time I heard ‘I like you,’ it was Sean and Leigh Anne [Tuohy] saying it. When that occurs at 18, you turn out to be weak,” he mentioned. “You let your guard down and then you definately get every part stripped from you. It turns right into a damage feeling.”
He added, “I don’t need to make this about race, however what I came upon was that no person says ‘I like you’ greater than coaches and white individuals. When Black individuals say it, they imply it.”
In Oher’s submitting, he claimed that he noticed no proceeds from The Blind Facet. That model of occasions was countered by a submitting from the Tuohys that confirmed they paid Oher greater than $138,000 from the movie’s proceeds.
The Tuohys claimed that Oher was trying to extort them for $15 million.
Sandra Bullock and Quinton Aaron starred within the biographical sports activities movie The Blind Facet, bringing a supposed true story to life. The Blind Facet was based mostly on Michael Lewis’ 2006 e-book, The Blind Facet: Evolution of a Recreation. The film, launched in November 2009, adopted athlete Michael Oher’s (Aaron) journey to the NFL after being […]
“Maybe as a result of he was not making a big amount of cash as knowledgeable athlete, Mr. Oher turned more and more estranged from the Tuohys, believing incorrectly that that they had not paid him the cash he was owed,” the submitting learn.
Oher waved off the concept he was determined for cash in his interview with the Instances. He mentioned that he was frugal throughout his eight seasons within the NFL and has “hundreds of thousands of {dollars}” to his identify.
“I labored exhausting for that second after I was performed enjoying, and saved my cash so I may benefit from the time,” he mentioned, saying the timing of his submitting was because of the demanding nature of his former occupation.
“Professional soccer’s a tough job. It’s important to be locked in one hundred pc,” he mentioned. “I went together with their narrative as a result of I actually needed to give attention to my NFL profession, not issues off the sphere.”
Oher’s interview is the primary time that he’s spoken on the lawsuit, other than an preliminary assertion when information broke of the submitting.
“I’m disheartened by the revelation shared within the lawsuit right now,” Oher mentioned on the time. “It is a troublesome scenario for my household and me. I need to ask everybody to please respect our privateness presently.”
