Michael Oher Speaks Out for the First Time Since Filing Lawsuit Against Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy

“The first time I heard ‘I love you,’ it was Sean and Leigh Anne [Tuohy] saying it. When that happens at 18, you become vulnerable,” Oher told ‘The New York Times Magazine’

Michael Oher, the former football star whose life inspired The Blind Side, is speaking out for the first time since filing a lawsuit against Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy that resulted in the termination of his conservatorship and alleged that the family exploited his likeness to make millions.

In a new interview with The New York Times Magazine published on Sunday, Aug. 18, over a year after he first filed the suit, the NFL alum recalled his time living with the wealthy, Memphis-based family — and why, despite what the 2009 film portrays, he feels like they deceived him.

“The first time I heard ‘I love you,’ it was Sean and Leigh Anne [Tuohy] saying it. When that happens at 18, you become vulnerable,” he told the magazine. “You let your guard down and then you get everything stripped from you. It turns into a hurt feeling.”

After a brief pause, he continued, “I don’t want to make this about race, but what I found out was that nobody says ‘I love you’ more than coaches and white people. When Black people say it, they mean it.”

Related: Tuohys Say There Was 'Never an Intent to Adopt' Michael Oher, Claim He Got 20% Share of Profits in New Filing

Oher, now 38, still expressed fond feelings about the comfort and care Sean and Leigh Ann provided him. “Honestly, it was great,” he said of his time with the family, who bought him clothes and set him up with a tutor — to make him eligible to play college football — among other things.

"I had a bed to stay on. I was eating good. They got me a truck,” he added of his time with Sean, Leigh Anne and their two kids.

Related: Michael Oher 'Has Been Kept In the Dark' About His Finances, Attorneys Claim Tuohys Never Kept Track of Money

However, The Blind Side, Oher said, gave him an entirely new — and very public — identity that did not accurately reflect who he was as an athlete or person.

While he focused on football, Sean and Leigh Ann aided the creation of the movie, which began as a book by Michael Lewis, using their “narrative," Oher said, also detailing how his portrayal came off as inaccurate.

Reflecting on the release of The Blind Side, which coincided with the beginning of his NFL career, Oher told The New York Times Magazine, “That’s my heartbreak right there. ... It was as soon as I got there, I was defined.”

Oher did not attend the film’s premiere, but was persuaded to watch it about a month after its release. “It’s hard to describe my reaction. It seemed kind of funny to me, to tell you the truth, like it was a comedy about someone else,” he told the magazine. “It didn’t register.”

The biggest difference between the movie’s character and the real-life Oher, according to the athlete? It underplayed his intelligence to such a degree that it left his new coworkers questioning his capabilities. "The NFL people were wondering if I could read a playbook," he said.

Recalling how social media “was just starting to grow” at the time of the film’s release, Oher added, “I started seeing stuff that I’m dumb. I’m stupid. Every article about me mentioned 'The Blind Side,' like it was part of my name.”

Related: 'Blind Side' Battle: Michael Oher Calls Tuohys' Latest Financial Claims ‘Contradictory, Confusing, False’

The former football tackle still worries about this portrayal impacting him — as well as his children: “If my kids can’t do something in class, will their teacher think, ‘Their dad is dumb — is that why they’re not getting it?’ " he said.

Elsewhere in his chat with The New York Times Magazine — which the Tuohy family refused to comment on — Oher also claimed that his lawsuit against them was not about money, although he alleged in the Aug. 14 filing that Sean, Leigh Anne and their two children “collectively received millions of dollars and Michael received nothing for his rights” to The Blind Side.

“I worked hard for that moment when I was done playing, and saved my money so I could enjoy the time,” he told the magazine, adding that he is “fine” and currently has “millions of dollars.”

As for why he waited until last August to file, Oher said that he had other things on his mind. "Pro football’s a hard job. You have to be locked in 100 percent,” he explained. “I went along with their narrative because I really had to focus on my NFL career, not things off the field.”

Related: Michael Oher Cheerfully Greets Fans at Florida Book Signing amid New Legal Filing Against Tuohy Family

For a long time, Oher said he was also “so angry mentally” with the situation he was “going through,” he told the magazine. Now, he just wants to find himself again.

"I want to be the person I was before The Blind Side, personality-wise,” he said. “I’m still working on it.”

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A month after the retired NFL star filed his lawsuit last August in the Shelby County, Tenn. Probate Court, the Probate Court judge, Kathleen Gomes, dissolved the conservatorship Sean and Leigh Anne established when Oher turned 18.

Established in 2004, the conservatorship gave the Tuohy family control over Oher’s money and big life decisions, despite the fact that he had no known disabilities, as is required by Tennessee state law.

At the time, Gomes said that she had never seen a conservatorship agreement reached with someone who was not disabled in her 43-year career.

The rest of the lawsuit, meanwhile, is still ongoing.

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