The foster brothers of Michael Oher say the film “The Blind Side” portrayed the NFL star inaccurately in the new documentary “BLINDsided.” The CNN-produced documentary dropped on Max on Nov. 16.
According to Nate and Quwanda Hale, who at some point were Oher’s foster brothers prior to him living with Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, their foster mother was a blessing who provided for them. It’s unclear exactly when Oher lived with the brothers, as he has said he lived in several foster homes before the Tuohys. The Hales specifically mentioned a scene in the film where Oher says that he never had his own bed before, a depiction the Hales say was untrue.
“That video is depicting something that didn’t occur,” said the Hale brothers, adding that the foster care system requires each child to “have their own space” in foster homes.
“The one thing you want is a family, to feel like, ‘I belong, and you want me here,’” said Nate, adding that Oher was rarely as unhappy as portrayed in the film. “Michael pretty much grasped the concept that everyone else grasped — this is not the end of your life — let this be a step towards the beginning of a new life,” he said.
According to The New York Times, the retired NFL star said in his book “When Your Back’s Against the Wall” that he went back and forth from foster care to living on the street from the age of 7.
“I was one of 12 kids,” wrote Oher. “I don’t remember anyone ever having a job and no one in my family graduated from high school before me. Just about every adult in my life was addicted to crack cocaine. I barely knew my father before he was killed. I was on my own from age 7, going back and forth from foster care to living on the street. I attended 11 schools in nine years.”
Another person in “BLINDsided” who knew Oher, Quinterio Franklin, said he met the 37-year-old when they went to Briarcrest Christain School. The two bonded over being two of the only Black students, and Franklin said he walked out of “The Blind Side” while watching it in the theater. Franklin said the scene in the movie depicting Oher as if he couldn’t read or write was “not accurate.”
“I’m embarrassed for him as a friend,” said Franklin. “It’s not accurate and it’s hurtful.” Franklin added that Oher asked to live with his family and was welcomed with open arms sometime before moving in with the Tuohys in the 12th grade. “That was one of the best times of my life,” recalled Franklin. Franklin added that Oher moved in with the Tuohys out of convenience — not need, as was depicted in the movie — the summer before his senior year. He said that the Tuohy family lived closer to school, and Sean Tuohy was a volunteer coach for the football team.
According to high school football recruiter Tom Lemming, Oher was one of the “top five offensive linemen” in the nation while in high school. When Oher was near graduation, the Tuohys set up a meeting with a University of Mississippi football scout. After Oher chose the college, the Tuohys proposed a conservatorship. The Tuohys claim the conservatorship was to circumvent NCAA rules, but Oher thought the conservatorship meant that he was going to be adopted. The Tuohys have publically called Oher their adopted son and claimed to be his “forever family.”
Oher was the 2009 first-round NFL draft pick and went on to play for the Baltimore Ravens, the Tennessee Titans, and the Carolina Panthers. The Tuohys reportedly signed a $225,000 deal with 20th Century Fox the same year for “The Blind Side” and earned 2.5 percent of the film’s profits. The film’s producers claim that the Oher and the Tuohys were paid $767,000 total for “The Blind Side.”
Oher filed a petition in a Shelby County Court in Tennessee to terminate the conservatorship after learning that the conservatorship was not an adoption last February. He claimed that the Tuohys enriched themselves with the conservatorship. According to People magazine, Oher was only paid $138,311.01 in 10 installments by the Tuohys for “The Blind Side” over a 16-year period from 2007 until April of 2023.
“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,” stated the petition.
“Conservators Sean Tuohy and Leigh Anne Tuohy” saw a young Oher as a “gullible young man whose athletic talent could be exploited for their own benefit.”
Sandra Bullock won the Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Mrs. Tuohy in the film, which earned more than $300 million at the box office. A judge ordered Oher to be released form the conservatorship in September.
