Michael Oher rips The Blind Side but admits he’s ‘grateful for the Tuohys’ in interview

Michael Oher detailed his frustrations with The Blind Side amid explaining his tough 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, prior to the stunning announcement of a legal petition against the family, to promote his latest book; When Your Back’s Against the Wall.

In the filing, Oher alleged he had been tricked into signing Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy on as his conservators, which allowed them to profit off his name and likeness. 

The former first-round draft pick did not address the issue and only briefly mentioned the famed family during the 48-minute interview. 

Though, as he has done several times down the years, criticized the effect the film and the preceding 2006 book by Michael Lewis have had upon him.

Michael Oher (C) pictured with Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy on Senior Day at Ole Miss in 2008

The 2009 film The Blind Side captured some of Oher’s story but apparently it had misnomers

‘Through help to this day right here, my circle is getting me back to who I was and still healing prior to when all these stories were created,’ Oher said. 

‘The personality, just everything you get it taken away from it and things that are out of control. You just continue to fight and eventually get back on course.’

Oher, a Super Bowl champion with the Ravens, spoke to his appreciation for the Tuohys but detailed a supposed misnomer within the The Blind Side. 

‘Whatever you see in the movie or books you’ve have to understand what it took for me be this 18-year-old kid when this story took shape.’

Oher was 20 at the time of the book’s release and 23 upon the film’s release. 

‘And the things I went through and had to do to go through to that point I went through from 3 years old to 18 when I moved in with the Tuohy family – who I’m grateful for letting me stay my senior year there.

‘But you have to understand, I was an All-American football player before I moved in with them, you have to understand what it took for me to get to that point.’

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

In 2012 at Super Bowl media day, he said  

The 37-year-old alluded to his accomplishments being trivialized 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 point prior you get everything taken away from you, the hard work. That’s what I want to let people know, you can get things done.’

Oher detailed his challenges growing up – long before meeting the Tuohy family –  which led him to selling newspapers instead of attending school. 

‘I took it upon myself to get out find jobs, sell newspapers, do any and everything – I had steal from grocery stores, just to put food in the refrigerator when I could. 

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

Oher also detailed those character-building years, prior to being brought in by the Tuohys, formulated a purpose in him. 

‘I want to be able to continue to give back to those – I grew up around so many of those people, who had they been given an opportunity, they would’ve been just as successful in something else.’