Allegedly Michael Oher repeatedly demanded $15 million from the Tuohy family over “The Blind Side” royalties.
via: Daily Mail
The prolonged legal battle between former NFL offensive lineman Michael Oher and the Tuohy family took another turn when documents alleged Oher attempted to extort the Tuohys.
Oher’s story was documented in the novel-turned-movie ‘The Blind Side’, but he alleges the family at the center of it pocketed his portion of the royalty checks.
Documents filed by the Tuohys (obtained by TMZ) say that Oher demanded $15m in unpaid royalties from them and said he would ‘defame them on social media and/or TMZ as “fakes” and “thieves” if he wasn’t paid.
Those documents included multiple text messages sent by Oher alleging he was ‘robbed of fifty million+’ before lowering his final offer to $10m.
Oher wrote in another text, ‘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… Think how it will look when it comes out.’
After initially rejecting the $10m demand, Oher responded, ‘It was 10 million. Now I want 15 after taxes.’
Documents filed by the Tuohys claim they and Oher were all paid identical sums of $138,309.90.
The Tuohys say they feel as if Oher is their son despite his ‘vindictive and unfounded legal and reputational crusade against them.’
The family never legally adopted Oher, despite claiming in the book that they did.
Last week, the couple officially removed all references to Oher being their adopted son from their website as well as any public speaking materials they had.
Oher and the Tuohys entered into a conservatorship agreement back in 2004 – when he was 18 years old. A Shelby County (Tennessee) judge ended the conservatorship in the fall, but the fight over money from the film and Oher’s story is an ongoing process.
Oher claims the Tuohys have used his name, image and likeness to enrich themselves and kept him in the dark about financial dealings related to him and his story.
Oher had previously asked that the judge bar the Tuohys from using his name, image and likeness to make money.
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