Michael Oher, the longtime NFL lineman who rose to national attention when his life story became the basis for the inspirational movie The Blind Side that won Sandra Bullock an Oscar, has petitioned a court saying the basis for the story was not based in fact.
According to a deep-dive story by ESPN on Monday, Oher has filed a petition in Tennessee probate court alleging that a key tenet of his rags-to-riches story — that he was adopted by the Tuohy family, who eventually guided Oher to play football at their alma mater the University of Mississippi and then to the NFL — was untrue.
Rather, Oher claims he was tricked by Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy to signing conservatorship papers just after he turned 18 that gave them the right to make deals in his name.
Oher did not discover the new information until February of this year, according to the petition. The filing, in Shelby County, TN probate court, says the Tuoys used the conservatorship to enrich their own family, leaving Oher out of the profits from Leigh Anne’s book about their story and the subsequent 2009 movie, which starred Bullock as Leigh Ann and Quentin Aaron as Oher.
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