The Blind Side author Michael Lewis spoke out in support of the Tuohy family amid new controversy over their relationship with football star Michael Oher and said that the family did not make millions of dollars from the movie inspired by his best-selling book.
In an interview published on Wednesday by The Washington Post, Lewis denied that he or members of the Tuohy family saw a major profit from the film adaptation of Oher’s life story.
“Everybody should be mad at the Hollywood studio system,” the writer told the Post. “Michael Oher should join the writers’ strike. It’s outrageous how Hollywood accounting works, but the money is not in the Tuohys’ pockets.”
The Blind Side movie scene.
Everett
Oher’s life as a young Black teen athlete growing up in poverty, being taken in by a wealthy White family and then getting drafted into the NFL caught the interest of Lewis. The Moneyball author was childhood friends with Sean Tuohy, the patriarch now at the center of the scandal. After hearing Tuohy’s account, Lewis wrote The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game, which was published in 2006. In 2009, the story was adapted into a film starring Sandra Bullock, who won the Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of the family’s matriarch, Leigh Anne Tuohy.
“What I feel really sad about is I watched the whole thing up close,” Lewis told the Post. “They showered him with resources and love. That he’s suspicious of them is breathtaking. The state of mind one has to be in to do that — I feel sad for him.”
Son in ‘Blind Side’ Family Says He Gets Why Michael Oher ‘Is Mad’ but Denies He Has ‘Millions’
On Monday, Oher filed a petition to end a conservatorship, claiming he found out in February 2023 that the Tuohys never legally adopted him, “much to his chagrin and embarrassment.” Instead, he claims 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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Leigh Anne Tuohy, Sandra Bullock.
D Dipasupil/FilmMagic; Warner Bros Pictures/Kobal/Shutterstock
In his Post interview, Lewis claimed that once agent fees and taxes were taken out of his and the Tuohy’s cut, he and the Tuohy family received around $350,000 each from the profits of the film. The author said the Tuohys planned to share the royalties, but Oher declined. Lewis claimed he was under the impression that the family deposited Oher’s share in a trust fund for the former Baltimore Ravens star’s son.
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Michael Oher at 2009 NFL Draft.
Jeff Zelevansky/Getty
On Wednesday, a source close to the film told PEOPLE the 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.
In a statement, the Tuohy family’s lawyer, Martin Singer, said that “when Michael Lewis, a friend of Sean’s since childhood, was approached about turning his book on Mr. Oher and the Tuohys into a movie about their family, his agents negotiated a deal where they received a small advance from the production company and a tiny percentage of net profits,” “They insisted that any money received be divided equally.”
Singer claimed the Tuohys “have made good on that pledge” to divide the profits equally. The lawyer also claimed that “evidence” will show that the family has “given Mr. Oher an equal cut of every penny received from,” which was “documented in profit participation checks and studio accounting statements.”
“Anyone with a modicum of common sense can see that the outlandish claims made by Michael Oher about the Tuohy family are hurtful and absurd,” Singer said, alleging Oher had previously threatened to “plant a negative story in the press” unless the Tuoys “paid him $15 million.”
In response to the Tuohy family lawyers’ allegations, Oher’s team responded Wednesday with a statement of solidarity.
“We continue to stand with Michael and the statement he released,” representatives for Oher said in a statement to PEOPLE. “We also concur with his attorney, Don Barrett, we believe that justice will be served in a courtroom where cases are based on facts.”
Oher said on Tuesday he was “disheartened by the revelation shared in the lawsuit today” in another statement issued to PEOPLE by a representative. “This is a difficult situation for my family and me. I want to ask everyone to please respect our privacy at this time. For now, I will let the lawsuit speak for itself and will offer no further comment.”
During a press conference in Memphis Wednesday, attorneys for the Tuohys said they would be willing to release him from the conservatorship.
“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.”
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education