Was The Blind Side Based On a Lie?

Was The Blind Side Based On a Lie?

Our hearts break. And break hard. One of our all time favorite movies, The Blind Side starring Sandra Bullock turns out to be based on one big lie. And no, we don’t mean a “lie that enables truth” as a Picasso said. We mean a big fat lie that shatters everything we thought we knew about the world. Clasp that Oscar tight Sandra.

For those who may not remember, The Blind Side was a film adaptation of a book that chronicled the story of Michael Oher, a very large young man from a troubled inner city background who had a very real shot to make the NFL. At least he would if he stayed on the right track. Enter the Tuohy family who adopted Oher to provide him a stable enough home for him to make his NFL dream a reality. Which he ended up doing, warming the hearts of the nation and making him a household name back in 2009.

But now it turns out a central premise of the story wasn’t true. In the film, Oher is allegedly adopted by the family at age 14. But now he is alleging in court that he was never legally adopted, and was instead pressured to sign papers that entered him into a conservatorship. That conservatorship included licensing their story for the book and film and raking in millions that Oher never saw a dime from. Oher is now challenging the legality of that document in court, asking for damages related to the profit the family made on his name and story.

The family has yet to comment, and will likely only do so through their lawyers. Previously they have denied making much profit on the film and stated they shared what they did make with Michael. But Oher allegedly only came to understand the legal ramifications of their agreement earlier this year, and has been working toward a more just compensation system in the time since. All of it adds a major asterisk to what was one of America’s favorite rags to riches football stories.

But as for us, we have to admit this changes little, as our real focus when it came to The Blind Side was always Sandra Bullock. That fact, and the legendary quality of her performance, remain unchanged.