LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Michael Oher's "adoptive" brother Sean 'SJ' Tuohy Jr has asserted that the family was not taken by surprise by the former NFL player's legal petition against them.
Oher filed a legal petition against SJ's parents, Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, made famous by the acclaimed 2009 film The 'Blind Side', alleging he was duped into signing a document that made them conservators rather than adoptive parents, allowing them to profit from him.
He claimed that when he was 18 years old in 2004, he was duped into signing a petition that designated them as his conservators and gave them the authority to manage his business interests legally, according to the first report from ESPN.
Who is SJ Tuohy Jr?
SJ Tuohy Jr is perhaps best known for being the loving adoptive brother of Oher, a famous football player whose inspiring journey from homelessness to the NFL served as the inspiration for the Oscar-winning movie 'The Blind Side'.
However, SJ has distinguished himself as a successful athlete, journalist, and academic in his own right over the years since the Tuohys first accepted Oher into their family. SJ began working for the University of Central Florida in 2021 as the director of football operations. Currently, he is the football team's associate athletics director and chief of staff.
SJ graduated from Loyola University Maryland with a bachelor's degree in communications with a focus in journalism and marketing. He earned a letter while an undergrad on the basketball team. He played on the second Loyola team to win more than 20 games and the first to win a postseason game during his freshman year. His "getting a bucket" against Kansas at the storied Allen Field House is a career high point, as per reports.
Oher filed a 14-page petition in Shelby County, Tennessee on Monday, alleging that the movie's centrality was a lie and that the Tuohy family had taken advantage of the conservatorship to negotiate a deal that allowed them to profit handsomely from the $309 million-grossing Oscar-winning movie.
Did Michael Oher demand money from Tuohy family ?
Oher asserted that he learned of the purported lie regarding the adoption in February 2023, but SJ, who now works in college football at UCF, asserted that the petition came as no surprise, implying that the former football player was aware of it two years prior as he sent texts requesting money in exchange for keeping quiet about the allegations.
Where is SJ Tuohy Jr now?
SJ Tuohy, who now works in college football at UCF, appeared on Barstool Radio on Monday. He said on Barstool Sports radio show Monday afternoon, "I want to preface this by saying I loved Mike at 16, I love him now at 37, and I'll love him at 67, So there's nothing, any legal dossier or anything that happens that's like 'screw that guy'. That's not the case."
Oher said in a statement on Monday, "I am disheartened by the revelation shared in the lawsuit today. This is a difficult situation for my family and me. I want to ask everyone to please respect our privacy at this time. For now, I will let the lawsuit speak for itself and will offer no further comment," as reported by DailyMail.
SJ disproved the notion that the Tuohy family had planned everything in advance by asserting that he had personally made about $60,000 from the film. He added that he didn't understand his parents' choice to have a conservatorship rather than an adoption.
And while SJ refrained from making many assumptions about the timing of the petition, he did assert that it wasn't a surprise.
"I knew it as coming it was a matter of time," he added, "It was surprising because it was a Monday morning. But this isn't his first one. It's a couple of years in the making. I'm surprised it happened in the manner it did but no one was surprised. Coincidence or not, it seems tough timing the same day the book comes out."
Do SJ Tuohy Jr and Michael Oher still talk?
SJ insisted that they had been communicating via text up until a few months ago despite claiming that he had last seen Oher in 2021 and that they had spent Christmas together in 2019.
