Michael Oher is a former professional American football player. Oher was born in Memphis, Tennessee, as one of Denise Oher’s 12 children.
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His mother was an alcoholic with a crack cocaine addiction, and his father, Michael Jerome Williams died in prison. He was homeless at various points during his childhood and struggled to find stability
However, in 2004, Leigh Anne, businesswoman and her husband Sean Tuohy with a daughter and son, invited Oher to live with them and adopted him.
After learning of his terrible childhood, the family began to attend to his needs. They also hired a tutor to work with him for 20 hours per week.

Oher filed a lawsuit in August 2023, arguing that Leigh Ann and Sean Tuohy never officially adopted him, but instead established a conservatorship that gave them legal rights to conduct business in his name.
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He claimed that the Tuohys exploited their conservatorship authority to negotiate a contract in which they and their two children received millions of dollars in royalties from the Blind Side film while Oher received nothing.
Oher’s attorney J. Gerard Stranch IV told ESPN that his client was “devastated” when he discovered the true nature of the conservatorship. “Mike didn’t grow up with a stable family life,” he said.
“When the Tuohy family told Mike they loved him and wanted to adopt him, it filled a void that had been with him his entire life. Discovering that he wasn’t actually adopted devastated Mike and wounded him deeply.”

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