Michael Oher case takes dramatic turn, Tuohy family claims ex-NFLer attempted $15,000,000 shakedown

Millions across the world saw the story of Michael Oher in the 2009 Oscar-winning film The Blind Side. Oher later claimed that the film was not an accurate depiction of his life. He has sued his adoptive parents and the trial is ongoing.

Lawyers for Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy shared screenshots of alleged text messages sent to them by Oher In a legal filing. The screenshots supposedly showed him calling the Tuohys "thieves" and demanding they send him up to $15 million.

These alleged messages also had him threatening to go public with their argument over the financial proceeds of the film if the demand was not met. The Tuohys’ attorneys shared screenshots of some of the alleged texts they claim Oher used to extract money from the Tuohys (via wjactv.com):

“If something isn’t resolved this Friday, I’m going to go ahead and tell the world, how I was robbed by my suppose to be [sic] parents. That’s the deadline... It was 10 million now I want 15 after taxes."

The Tuohy family did not include their responses to Oher in the screenshots submitted in those filings. In August, Oher noted that he was never lawfully adopted by the Tuohy family in a court filing in Tennessee.

He added that he feels the family intentionally took in the money owed to him from the film. Earlier this year, Michael Oher claimed that he was informed of being placed into a conservatorship with the Tuohys when he was 18 years old.

Legal authorities previously told People magazine that the conservatorship had given the Tuohys full control of Oher's fiscal and medical decisions.

In November, Oher filed a petition against the Tuohys that read:

“Without Mr. Oher, there would have been no movie. The Tuohy had it backwards: 80 percent of the proceeds should have gone to Petitioner and 20 percent to the Tuohy family."

Producers of The Blind Side, Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove, spoke to People in August and revealed that the family and Oher made around $767K in total payments.

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Exploring Michael Oher's NFL career earnings

Oher played eight seasons in the NFL with three different teams, starting with the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens drafted him in the first round of the 2009 NFL Draft out of Ole Miss.

He would play for the Ravens for five seasons, winning a Super Bowl in the process. Oher made $13.945 million with Baltimore over those five seasons.

In March 2014, he signed with the Tennessee Titans on a four-year, $20 million contract, but was released in Feb. 2015, earning $7.34 million. Michael Oher would spend the final three seasons of his career with the Carolina Panthers.

He joined on a two-year, $7 million deal in March 2015 and was later given a $20 million extension over four years in June 2016. Oher was released by the team in July 2017, earning a total of $13.6 million with Carolina. Overall, Michael Oher made over $34.5 million in his NFL career.