Love is Blindsided

A tragic ending to a football fairytale

Micheal Oher with the Touhy family, shared via social media

The story of Michel Oher and his rise to NFL stardom is so inspiring it garnered a Hollywood adaptation, complete with a beloved movie starlet and an Oscar.

Sadly, the good times weren’t meant to roll on forever. Oher and his “adopted” family, fast food moguls Sean and Leigh Anne Touhy, are currently estranged, with news recently breaking that Oher is filing a complaint against his former benefactors, accusing them of lying to him about his adoption and withholding residuals from the sale of their family’s story.

The ex-NFLer and subject of the movie “The Blind Side” claims Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy never officially adopted him, but instead tricked him into signing away the legal authority to use his name in business deals after he turned 18, according to ESPN.

A 14-page petition filed in Shelby County, Tenn., probate court further claims the Tuohys used their conservatorship to make themselves and their birth children millions of dollars in royalties from the 2009 Warner Bros. movie starring Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw.

The Touhys are refuting Oher’s claims, and say everyone was informed about the conservatorship, including Oher’s biological mother who actually came to court with them to help file the legal arrangements. Through their lawyer they have asserted that Oher has received every penny of an equal split between family members from all film proceeds. Not only that, it seems this isn’t the first time he has come forward with demands for money and complaints.

Michael Oher, the ex-NFL star whose story inspired the Oscar-winning film “The Blind Side,” allegedly asked his adoptive family for $15 million not to go public with claims they swindled him, according to the family’s attorney.

Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy said through their legal representative there is no credence to Oher’s claims he was fooled into a conservatorship and rubbished claims the couple made millions off his life’s story.

Their lawyer told TMZ Sports Oher was instead the principal offender who has repeatedly threatened to “plant a negative story” about the Tuohys in the press if they didn’t cough up an eight-figure check.

“Over the years, the Tuohys have given Mr. Oher an equal cut of every penny received from ‘The Blind Side,’” attorney Marty Singer said.

“Even recently, when Mr. Oher started to threaten them about what he would do unless they paid him an eight-figure windfall, and, as part of that shakedown effort refused to cash the small profit checks from the Tuohys, they still deposited Mr. Oher’s equal share into a trust account they set up for his son.”

Naturally the mainstream press and the Very Online™ crowd have decided this is a story about a rich white savior couple who took advantage of a poor black child and sold his life for their gain.