Michael Lewis, the author of “The Blind Side,” is speaking out in support of Sean Tuohy and Leigh Anne Tuohy, who were sued Monday by former NFL player Michael Oher, who alleges that the couple took monetary advantage of him as part of a fraudulent adoption scheme.
In an interview with The Washington Post published on Wednesday, Lewis claimed that the problem is with Hollywood, not with the Tuohys, adding that no one was paid well. (Lewis also wrote two other books that became films, “Moneyball” and “The Big Short,” according to his website.)
“Everybody should be mad at the Hollywood studio system,” Lewis said. “Michael Oher should join the writers’ strike. It’s outrageous how Hollywood accounting works, but the money is not in the Tuohys’ pockets.”
Oher filed the lawsuit in Tennessee this week, claiming that Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy never adopted him and instead misled him into signing into a conservatorship, in which the Tuohys would be able to make financial decisions for him. Oher claims that he was not given a fair share of money from the film adaptation of his life, which stemmed from the book written by Michael Lewis.
Oher claims that the Tuohys and their two children received $250,000 for the film and 2.5% in residuals. Sean Tuohy claims that the Tuohy family — including Oher — each received $14,000 from Lewis’ share of film profits.
Lewis told The Washington Post his half of the profits from the film ended up being around $70,000 after taxes and paying out the family.
Lewis also denied that the Tuohys took advantage of Oher because they saw his potential as an athlete. He claimed that they chose the conservatorship route because they believed it would be faster than the adoptive process.
“What I feel really sad about is I watched the whole thing up close,” Lewis said. “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.”
Lewis also said that Oher stopped accepting his share of royalties. He believes that the Tuohys put that money away in a trust fund for Oher’s son.
Oher played in the NFL from 2009 to 2016, winning the 2013 Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens.
Oher said in his 2011 memoir, “I Beat The Odds,” that the Tuohys originally explained to him that the conservatorship meant “pretty much the same thing as ‘adoptive parents,’ but that the laws were just written in a way that took my age into account.” Oher was 18 years old when he signed the papers.
“The lie of Michael’s adoption is one upon which co-conservators Leigh Anne Tuohy and Sean Tuohy have enriched themselves at the expense of their Ward, the undersigned Michael Oher,” the legal filing says, according to ESPN. “Michael Oher discovered this lie to his chagrin and embarrassment in February of 2023, when he learned that the conservatorship to which he consented on the basis that doing so would make him a member of the Tuohy family, in fact provided him no familial relationship with the Tuohys.”
Martin Singer, an attorney for the Tuohys, claimed that Oher threatened to go to the media if they didn’t give him $15 million, The Associated Press and TMZ reported.
Another lawyer for the Tuohys, Randall Fishman, said Wednesday that the couple is prepared to end Oher’s conservatorship, also according to AP.
Sean Touhy told the Daily Memphian on Monday that he and his wife were “devastated” by the news of the lawsuit.
“It’s upsetting to think we would make money off any of our children. But we’re going to love Michael at 37 just like we loved him at 16,” he added.
