Former NFL star Michael Oher has been candid about the struggles he’s faced in recent years after news broke that he had filed a lawsuit against Sean and Leigh Anne Touhy for allegedly lying about his adoption and paying him millions earned.
It was reported Monday that Oher had filed a legal petition against the Tuohys, who were popularized by the critically acclaimed 2009 film, The blind sideclaiming he was tricked into signing a document making them conservators – not his adoptive parents – allowing them to take advantage of him.
The film – based on a 2006 book about Oher’s life story – followed his rags-to-riches story from a foster child in Tennessee to his adoption by the wealthy Tuohy family and blossoming into an elite athlete.
Oher filed a 14-page legal petition Shelby County, Tennessee claiming that the film’s central role was a lie and that the Tuohy family used the conservatory to make a deal that would allow them to make millions from the Oscar-winning film that grossed £237 million ($300 million) and that he wasn’t making money off a story that “wouldn’t have existed without him.”
Oher played eight seasons in the NFL before being released by the Carolina Panthers in 2017 due to injury issues and a talk with the ‘Now You’re Talking with Marshall Ramsey’ showhe opened up about the struggles he faced after the premature end of his career.
Former NFL star Michael Oher is candid about the struggles he faced after his career ended
Oher (center) filed a legal petition Monday against Sean (left) and Leigh Anne Tuohy (right)
Oher claimed he was tricked into signing a document that made the Tuohy’s conservators — not his adoptive parents — then allowed them to take advantage of him
“Luckily I had people I can talk to,” Oher said. “My wife and some close friends and they’ll help you get through it.
“I knew I had a greater purpose and others who were counting on me to get out of those dark times, so you start fighting and you see a slit of light and then you just keep going, you’re crawling and you’re walking.
And you think at the beginning you’ll never come back to that person you once were but through help to this day my circle brings me back to what I was and I’m still healing and that becoming the person I was before all these stories were made.
‘That’s the most important thing to me. It terrified me and terrified me more than anything because I wasn’t the young boy I was when I started this journey.
“The personality, you get taken from you and things you can’t control and you just keep fighting and eventually you get back on track.”
The 37-year-old – who released a new book last week, When Your Back’s Against the Wall – went on to explain that he now feels in a much stronger mental position and credited the impact on those close to him.
He added, “You think about having great friends and people around you. You know someone who knows when your personality changes and who knows your body language.
“Those are the people you need around you. The ones who feel the least and they are the kind of people you need in your circle.
“You may think that you are fine, but the least is that you need the right people around you to get through the hard times and then it is easier mentally.
“It goes back to when I was a kid trying to get up every day and go to school on my own and bypass all the negative around me. At the end of the day, I was like, “Gosh, I’m trying to do the right thing, but I’m still in the same situation,” and that’s a lot of wear and tear.”
Oher continued, “You need someone to help you when you’re feeling down to let you know you’ll be fine, just go through the steps, keep the plan in place and you’ll be fine.”
Oher’s rags-to-riches story was made into the 2009 Oscar-winning film The Blind Side
Sandra Bullock won an Oscar for her portrayal of Leigh Anne Tuohy in the beloved film
Oher credited the impact of close friends helping him overcome his personal struggles
“It helps to calm you down and think, ‘Okay, I’ll keep fighting, I’ll get on with what I’m doing and get the job done.'”
Within the aforementioned lawsuit, Oher has also asked for the conservatory to be terminated, in addition to a court order that the Tuohy family would stop using his name and likeness.
The retired offensive lineman is also aiming for “a full accounting” of the money the family has earned thanks to him.
Over nine seasons in the NFL, Oher had a reported total earnings of £27.1 million ($34.5 million). However, in 2015, the 37-year-old blamed The Blind Side for his less-than-stellar career.
He said, “People look at me and take things away from me because of a movie. They don’t really see the skills and the kind of player I am. That’s why I get demoted so often, because of something off the pitch.
“This stuff, calling me a bust, people saying if I can play or not… it has nothing to do with football. It’s something else off the field. That’s why I don’t like that movie.’