Michael Oher rips The Blind Side but admits he is ‘grateful for the Tuohys’ in interview BEFORE legal petition against the family

Michael Oher described his frustrations with The blind side amid explaining his harsh upbringing prior to a legal filing against the Tuohy family, popularized in the 2009 film.

Oher joined Marshall Ramsey on Mississippi Public Broadcasting Monday morning, ahead of the stunning announcement of a legal petition against the family to promote his latest book; When your back is against the wall.

In the filing, Oher claimed he was tricked into enlisting Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy as his conservators, allowing them to benefit from his name and likeness.

The former first-round draft pick did not address the issue, only briefly mentioning the famous family during the 48-minute interview.

Although, as he has several times over the years, he criticized the effect Michael Lewis’s movie and preceding 2006 book has had on him.

The 2009 movie The Blind Side captured part of Oher’s story, but apparently it contained misnomers

“Through help to this day, my circle brings me back to who I was and still healing before all these stories were made,” Oher said.

“The personality, just whatever you get out of it and things that get out of control. You just keep fighting and eventually get back on track.”

Oher, a Super Bowl champion with the Ravens, expressed his appreciation for the Tuohys, but described an alleged misnomer in the The blind side.

“No matter what you see in the movie or books, you have to understand what it took to be this 18-year-old boy as this story took shape.”

Oher was 20 when the book came out and 23 when the movie came out.

And the things that I’ve been through and had to do to get to that point, I went through from age 3 to age 18 when I moved in with the Tuohy family — who I’m thankful for having me through my senior year there let stay.

“But you have to understand that I was an All-American football player before I moved in with them, you have to understand what it took to get to this point.”

Oher has previously suggested that the stories surrounding his life were detrimental to his football career.

In 2012 at the Super Bowl media day, he said

The 37-year-old alluded to his achievements being downplayed or quasi-dismissed on radio Monday.

Oher was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens with the 23rd overall pick in the 2009 NFL Draft

Sandra Bullock won an Oscar for her portrayal of Leigh Anne Tuohy in the beloved 2009 film

“From that moment before everything is taken from you, the hard work. That’s what I want people to know, you can get things done.”

Oher described his challenges growing up – long before he met the Tuohy family – that led him to sell newspapers instead of going to school.

“I took it upon myself to look for work, sell newspapers, do anything and everything—stealing from supermarkets, just to put food in the fridge when I could.

‘I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t know if it was right, I just knew it was better than anything else I could do.’

Oher also described those character-building years, before he was brought in by the Tuohys, formulating a purpose within him.

“I want to be able to give something back to them – I grew up with so many of those people who, given the chance, would have been just as successful at something else.”