Did the Tuohys Steal Michael Oher's Movie Money?

Five years ago, Michael Lewis says, Michael Oher called wanting more money from the book and time on the road to talk about it. Lewis called Sean Tuohy. Strange emails and texts were arriving: if the family did not pay, Oher would destroy their reputation. The lawsuit first said the Tuohys stole the movie money. Lewis says they did not. The contract was his, so he knew the money. Writers are paid net profits, which do not show up no matter how much a film brings in. The advance was something like two hundred and something thousand dollars. Lewis gave the Tuohys half, they signed away their rights, and the sum was split into four or five shares, with a share for Oher. He calls the share not very much. The NCAA was all over the family, and he says you could not give Oher money.

Tiny royalty drips started after Oher made noise. Lewis says the sums are not big. The claim then became name, image, and likeness, over paid talks. Lewis says Oher could have given the talks too. The book never said the Tuohys adopted him. They took him in, a conservatorship followed, Leigh Anne Tuohy called him her kid, and he was on the Christmas card and in the will. She said they adopted him only after the movie, and Lewis says she should not have. Sean Tuohy grew up poor, sold his business for two hundred million dollars, and gave Oher cars. Lewis says the idea of Tuohy taking the money is insane. Oher wanted millions. The studio made them. The Tuohys did not. Oher had made thirty-eight million dollars in the NFL. Lewis calls the demand a shakedown. Tuohy was not going to pay.