Michael Oher’s time at Ole Miss is back in the news after the former Rebel standout filed a petition to end Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy’s conservatorship, which was thought was an adoption in the hit book and film “The Blind Side.” Oher further alleges that he never received any money from the film, which grossed more than $300 million.
Hugh Freeze, Oher’s former coach, spoke publicly for the first time about the lawsuit filed by Michael Oher against Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, lamenting over the situation and expressing his love for all parties involved.
“I love Michael Oher. He’s like part of our family. I love the Tuohys,” Freeze told Auburn reporters. “I think it’s sad, and I certainly don’t claim to understand all the ins and outs of adoption, conservatory, all of that. But I know what I witnessed, and I witnessed a family that totally took in a young man. And I think without that, there is no story.
“I sure hope it can… I know this, I know if Michael called Sean right now and said, ‘Let’s work this out,’ Sean and Leigh Anne would be there in a hurry to hug his neck and tell him he’s loved. I hope he feels that. And certainly. I don’t claim to… until you walk in people’s shoes, I don’t claim to have all the answers to anything.
“I think it will all… whatever happens will happen, of course. The facts will come out. But, you know, I love both sides of it. Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy did something that most families… a lot of us talk about doing things, but they actually put the shoes on and pulled the boots up and got in the arena and did something. I think that’s admirable.”
Freeze was Oher’s head coach at Briarcrest Christian School in Eads, Tennessee, and went on to serve as an assistant coach at Ole Miss during Oher’s playing career with the Rebels. Oher played for the Rebels from 2005-to-2008, earning All-SEC and All-American honors.
Oher’s lawsuit claims the Tuohys entered Oher into a conservatorship while presenting it to be the same process as a legal adoption. The lawsuit demanded an end to the Tuohys’ conservatorship of Oher, which has been in place since 2004.
Entering Oher into a conservatorship allowed the Tuohys to oversee Oher’s financial life and enter into legal deals without his consent. Oher claims that the Tuohys received royalties from the film, while he had not gotten any of the proceeds.
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The Tuohy’s have responded to Oher’s petition, calling it a “shakedown.”
