“The Blind Side” True Story: What the Movie Did (and Didn’t) Get Right About Michael Oher’s Life with the Tuohys

Michael Oher has said the film doesn't accurately represent his time living with the Tuohy family

In The Blind Side, Michael Oher (portrayed by Quinton Aaron) goes from being a homeless teenager to finding a family and his footing in the world, all while reaching success in the world of football.

Based on Michael Lewis’ 2006 book, The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game, the 2009 film was inspired by the true story of Oher and his relationship with the Tuohy family, but the subject of the film has since said he didn't feel accurately represented.

“It’s hard to describe my reaction," Oher told The New York Times Magazine of watching the movie. "It seemed kind of funny to me, to tell you the truth, like it was a comedy about someone else. It didn’t register.”

Related: Where Is the 'Blind Side' Family Now? What to Know About Michael Oher and the Tuohys

The Blind Side brought in over $300 million at the box office and earned an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. Sandra Bullock took home the Oscar for Best Actress for her portrayal of Leigh Anne Tuohy, the family matriarch.

The film became the subject of controversy 14 years after its release when Oher alleged in an August 2023 legal filing that the story was largely false and claimed that Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy lied about adopting him, instead placing him into a conservatorship, while profiting off of his name and likeness.

Here is everything to know about the true story of The Blind Side and what really happened to Michael Oher and the Tuohy family off-screen.

Who is Michael Oher?

Oher was born in Memphis, Tenn., on May 28, 1986, to Denise Oher and Michael Jerome Williams. He was one of 12 children and bounced between foster homes from the age of 7. His mother struggled with drug addiction, and his father died when Oher was a child.

"I'm still traumatized and I still deal with things that I dealt with as a kid," Oher told PEOPLE about his early childhood in March 2021.

Oher first met the Tuohy family when he was a student at Briarcrest Christian School in Eads, Tenn. According to his 2023 legal filings, the former NFL player claims that the Tuohys were one of the families he would “occasionally” stay with as he did not have a permanent home. In the summer of 2004, the Tuohys officially invited him to move in.

Related: Who Is Michael Oher's Wife? All About Tiffany Roy

In an August 2024 interview with The New York Times Magazine, his first since filing his lawsuit against the Tuohys, Oher explained some of the positives of living with his former caretakers.

“Honestly, it was great,” he said of the family's support, which included clothing and tutoring help. "I had a bed to stay on. I was eating good. They got me a truck."

Oher continued, “The first time I heard ‘I love you,’ it was Sean and Leigh Anne [Tuohy] saying it. When that happens at 18, you become vulnerable. You let your guard down and then you get everything stripped from you. It turns into a hurt feeling.”

Who are the Tuohys?

The Tuohy family consists of father Sean, mother Leigh Anne, daughter Collins and son Sean Jr., nicknamed S.J.

While Tim McGraw took on the role of Sean in The Blind Side, the real-life Sean was raised in New Orleans, La. and attended the University of Mississippi where he met his college sweetheart and future wife Leigh Anne. The couple married in 1982.

He was drafted by the NBA’s New Jersey Nets that same year but instead chose to “continue his career overseas before returning to the US to be with his father during his final days,” per his bio on his wife’s official website. The bio adds that Sean “became a successful entrepreneur building a company that now owns and operates fast food restaurants including Taco Bell, KFC and Freddy’s.”

Leigh Anne was born and raised in Memphis, Tenn., and attended the University of Mississippi. While in school, where she met Sean, she was a cheerleader and a member of the Kappa Delta sorority. Leigh Anne describes herself as a “motivational speaker and an interior designer by trade” on her website, with her work featured on HGTV.

With Sean, she published In a Heartbeat: Sharing the Power of Cheerful Giving in 2010 and also founded The Making it Happen Foundation which “promotes awareness, provides help, and seeks to improve the standard of living for all the children fighting to survive in the invisible cracks in society,” per Leigh Anne’s website.

Like her parents and Oher, Collins (portrayed by Lily Collins in The Blind Side) attended the University of Mississippi where she earned a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism. Per Leigh Anne’s website, Collins is co-owner of Whimsy Cookie Company and is on the board of her parents’ foundation.

She married Cannon Smith, brother of one of the producers of The Blind Side, in 2016. Oher was in attendance for the special day, where he walked Leigh Anne down the aisle with S.J.

Sean Jr., played by Jae Head, earned his bachelor’s degree in communications with a specialization in journalism and marketing from Loyola University Maryland, where he also lettered as a player on the basketball team.

He went on to earn a master’s degree at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, where he was on the football team. S.J. has also received a doctorate from the business school at Liberty University.

According to his LinkedIn, he currently serves as the executive director at The Kingdom NIL and also serves on the board of his family’s foundation.

Is The Blind Side a true story?

The Blind Side offers viewers a dramatized version of Oher’s life. Two aspects of the movie that Oher has said are not accurate portrayals of his real experiences are his football skill level and education.

“I felt like it portrayed me as dumb instead of as a kid who had never had consistent academic instruction and ended up thriving once he got it,” he wrote in his 2011 book I Beat the Odds: From Homelessness, to The Blind Side, and Beyond.

Oher also shared that his “main hang-up with the film” was being made to look as if he did not have any prior football knowledge before spending time with the Tuohy family. “Quinton Aaron did a great job acting the part, but I could not figure out why the director chose to show me as someone who had to be taught the game of football," Oher said.

He added, “Whether it was S.J. moving around ketchup bottles or Leigh Anne explaining to me what blocking is about, I watched those scenes thinking, 'No, that's not me at all! I've been studying — really studying — the game since I was a kid!' That was my main hang-up with the film.”

In his August 2024 interview with The New York Times Magazine, Oher opened up about how the film affected his life after its release.

"The NFL people were wondering if I could read a playbook," he said. “I started seeing stuff that I’m dumb. I’m stupid. Every article about me mentioned 'The Blind Side,' like it was part of my name.”

Oher added, “That’s my heartbreak right there ... It was as soon as I got there, I was defined.”

Where is Michael Oher now?

After graduating in 2005 from Briarcrest Christian School, he went on to play football at the University of Mississippi, Leigh Anne and Sean's alma mater. He graduated from Ole Miss in 2009 with a degree in criminal justice.

Oher was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the first round of the 2009 NFL Draft as the 23rd pick. His rookie year coincided with the release of The Blind Side, which premiered in November 2009. Oher ended five seasons with the Ravens as a Super Bowl champion when he and his team beat the San Francisco 49ers in February 2013.

Related: Michael Oher's 4 Kids: All About Kobi, Kierstin, MJ and Naivi

The athlete then signed a four-year contract with the Tennessee Titans in March 2014 but was placed on injured reserve in December and released in February 2015. He signed with the Carolina Panthers in March 2015 and officially retired from football in 2017.

As for his life off the field, Oher released I Beat the Odds: From Homelessness, to The Blind Side, and Beyond, which became a New York Times best-seller, in 2011. His second book, When Your Back's Against the Wall, was released in August 2023.

Oher and Tiffany Roy, his college sweetheart, tied the knot in November 2022 after 17 years together. The couple's four children, sons Kobi and MJ and daughters Kierstin and Naivi, were in attendance for the nuptials. The Tuohy family was not present at the wedding.

What legal claims has Michael Oher made against the Tuohy family?

On Aug. 14, 2023, Oher filed a legal petition to terminate the Tuohy's conservatorship over him, which he alleges has allowed Leigh Anne and Sean to make millions off his name. In the filing, Oher claimed that when he thought he was being adopted at age 18, the Tuohy family was actually filing documents to become his conservators.

“Michael trusted the Tuohys and signed where they told him to sign,” the legal filing, obtained by PEOPLE, claims. “What he signed, however, and unknown to Michael until after February 2023, were not adoption papers, or the equivalent of adoption papers.”

Oher also alleged in the petition that the Tuohys, including Collins and S.J., were paid $225,000 for The Blind Side plus 2.5% of the film’s proceeds, leaving him out of the deal.

In their 2010 book, In a Heartbeat: Sharing the Power of Cheerful Giving, the Tuohys alleged that the profits were split “five ways,” per ESPN.

Oher released a statement a day after the filing saying, "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."

The former NFL player's petition to have his conservatorship terminated was swiftly granted. However, court filings from the Tuohy's made in November alleged that Oher received a payout from the family of $138,000 over a period of 16 years, with the most recent payment of $8,480.10 arriving in April 2023.

In December of that year, in a legal filing, the couple shared screenshots of Oher allegedly asking for upwards of $10 million — Oher did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment and the case is still ongoing.

In August 2024, Oher gave his first interview since his filing in 2023 and opened up about the effects of being portrayed in The Blind Side. "I want to be the person I was before The Blind Side, personality-wise,” he said. “I’m still working on it.”

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