“The Blind Side” is considered one of the most popular sports movies ever made. However, for Michael Oher, whose life the story is supposed to be based on, it has a darker, more emotional background.
As previously reported by The Root, back in August 2023, Oher filed a lawsuit against Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy alleging that they actually didn’t adopt him, but instead “tricked him into signing a conservatorship.” He also claims that the Tuohys and their two kids made millions from the film, while he got nothing.
Though the Tuohys have denied these accusations and said Michael is just after money, he’s remained quiet on the situation. But that recently changed with an interview in Sunday’s The New York Times Magazine. He discusses his complicated feelings about the film and the family.
“The first time I heard ‘I love you,’ it was Sean and Leigh Anne saying it. When that happens at 18, you become vulnerable,” he said. “You let your guard down and then you get everything stripped from you. It turns into a hurt feeling.”
He also explains how the emotional differences between Black families and white families became very evident to him in his interactions with the Tuohys.
“I don’t want to make this about race, but what I found out was that nobody says ‘I love you’ more than coaches and white people,” he said. “When Black people say it, they mean it.”
Shortly after he filed the suit, a judge ended the Tuohys’ conservatorship. Michael still appreciates everything the family did for him, saying they took “great” care of him. However, his feelings about the movie are not as forgiving. He calls it his “heartbreak” that just as his lifelong dream of an NFL career was finally happening, he wasn’t the one to tell his true life story. “It was as soon as I got there, I was defined,” the Tennessee native said.
Oher never saw the story as his, explaining that the film felt like, “It was a comedy about someone else. It didn’t register.”
During his NFL tenure, Michael played for the Baltimore Ravens, Tennessee Titans and Carolina Panthers. He revealed that the way his intelligence was portrayed in “The Blind Side” made teams think he wouldn’t be able to understand plays. “The NFL people were wondering if I could read a playbook,” he said.
He also noted that since it was the early days of social media, people online were calling him “dumb” and “stupid.” He couldn’t get away from the stigma of the movie.
“Every article about me mentioned ‘The Blind Side,’ like it was part of my name,” the 2013 Super Bowl champion said.
For those wondering why he didn’t take action against the Tuohys sooner, he has a rather simple explanation.
“Pro football’s a hard job. You have to be locked in 100 percent,” Oher said. “I went along with their narrative because I really had to focus on my NFL career, not things off the field.”
Now, Michael is focused on rediscovering who he is without the influence of the Tuohys or the film.
“I want to be the person I was before ‘The Blind Side,’ personality-wise,” he said. “I’m still working on it.”