The Blind Side’
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12/12/2019 Mercury Reader ninjajournalist.com Michael Oher And The Real Story Of ‘The Blind Side’ By Derek Ewing | Oct. 8th, 2019 Send to Kindle Casual football viewers can rarely pick offensive linemen apart from one another. While they may seem like big bodies that are good at pushing each other, NFL player Michael Oher has broken the mold to become one of the best-known names in the game. Oher set the record straight about his life, which became a hit movie. He might have grown into an NFL player, but Michael Oher’s life was anything but enviable. This is his topsy-turvy story. Growing up in Memphis, Tennessee, was not always easy for Michael Oher. His mother struggled greatly with substance abuse, so Michael was forced to grow up fast. In an interview with 20/20, Oher said, “She wasn’t really around too much. I took care of myself most of the time.” As tough as it is to say it, it must have been even tougher to live it. He was one of 12 kids living in Hurt Village, a housing project in North Memphis. https://www.ninjajournalist.com/entertainment/michael-oher/ 1/22 12/12/2019 Mercury Reader With his alcoholic mother barely around, Michael was put into foster care at age seven. Due to his lack of supervision, Michael had a short attention span and little discipline. He repeated first and second grades. In his first nine years as a student, he attended 11 schools. It did not help that he rarely stayed at a foster home for long, https://www.ninjajournalist.com/entertainment/michael-oher/ 2/22 12/12/2019 Mercury Reader bouncing between various homes. He was heading in a dangerous direction until Tony Henderson, an auto mechanic, enrolled him at Briarcrest Christian School. Oher’s life story became the subject of author Michael Lewis’s 2006 bestseller The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game. In 2009, the book was adapted into a film by John Lee Hancock titled The Blind Side. The Sandra Bullock-starring film took some creative liberties with its story, one of which irked Oher. He felt that the movie marginalized the role of Tony Henderson in his life. Henderson was depicted as Tony Hamilton, but Oher hoped the film would better show his influence. https://www.ninjajournalist.com/entertainment/michael-oher/ 3/22 12/12/2019 Mercury Reader Michael got lucky that Tony was there to help him. Tony said in an interview, “He was a good kid. He was real quiet and especially stayed to himself.” He had plenty of years of bad habits and was not the best student. Oher said, “It was easy for me to say, ‘I’m going to hang out with these guys and not go to school, but I decided I didn’t want to do it. I wanted to be something in life.” https://www.ninjajournalist.com/entertainment/michael-oher/ 4/22 12/12/2019 Mercury Reader In the film, Briarcrest Christian School is renamed Wingate Christian School in another case of creative licensing by the writing team. Regardless of the name of his school, Oher stuck out like a sore thumb at his new school. Oher was much larger than most kids his age and was not able to blend in the way he intended. Collins Tuohy, a student at Briarcrest, could not help but tell her parents about the new boy at school that was twice her size. https://www.ninjajournalist.com/entertainment/michael-oher/ 5/22 12/12/2019 Mercury Reader Collins’ father Sean was intrigued by Michael. Sean’s curiosity would lead to one of the most interesting time in young Michael’s life. Sean began to monitor Michael closely. He noticed that Michael would frequently skip eating lunch because he simply did not have money to buy food. Sean’s parental instincts kicked in as he could not allow a boy to go without lunch each day. He started giving Michael money for lunch and continued to do so throughout the year. In The Blind Side, Michael has an essay of his read by his teacher, Mrs. Boswell, in front of the whole class. The essay is titled “White Walls.” In knowing that the film took some liberties with the source material and Michael’s life, many questioned if the essay actually existed or was added as an emotional hook. Oher admitted that he did indeed write the essay. The only major difference is that he read it during his senior year, not his first couple days there. https://www.ninjajournalist.com/entertainment/michael-oher/ 6/22 12/12/2019 Mercury Reader Sean’s help was greatly appreciated, but his wife Leigh Anne was the star of the film. The real Leigh Anne revealed that “there were a few artistic liberties taken,” in the film and especially in the scene in which Michael walks through the rain in only a polo shirt and shorts with all his belongings in a plastic bag. Leigh Anne, in the film, promptly approaches him and tell him that he will be spending the night with the Tuohys. In reality… https://www.ninjajournalist.com/entertainment/michael-oher/ 7/22 12/12/2019 Mercury Reader Leigh Anne actually spotted Michael as he strolled around on a crisp November morning while everyone was off for Thanksgiving. He was wandering around in only a T-shirt and jeans, which he wore to school every day. The only problem was that it was snowing outside on that Tennessee morning. Unlike in the film, in which she offered a bed to sleep in in their home, Leigh Anne coerced Michael to come shopping with her the next day. Even though the film claimed Michael went from living on the streets to living with the Tuohys, it took a bit of time before ending up with them. At first, he continued living with Tony Henderson, the man that had helped get him back on his feet and in school. He also lived with at least five other families for short stints. When his football coaches realized he had no home, they decided it was time to find him one. https://www.ninjajournalist.com/entertainment/michael-oher/ 8/22 12/12/2019 Mercury Reader In the 20/20 interview, Oher opened up about his time with the Tuohys. He said, “When I moved in with Leigh Anne and Sean, I felt loved, like part of a family. In the other houses, I didn’t feel like part of the family. I didn’t feel like they wanted me there.” Fortunately, for the Michael, then 16 years old, the Tuohys opened their arms and opened their doors to him. The good vibes did not stop there for Michael. https://www.ninjajournalist.com/entertainment/michael-oher/ 9/22 12/12/2019 Mercury Reader The Tuohys gave Michael something that he had never had in his life. Not only did they give him a roof to sleep under, but they gave him a bed of his own. In a broken home with 11 siblings, he always had to share. In the film, Leigh Anne got Michael a futon to sleep on. The filmmakers got this scene correct as Sean explained that many professional athletes sleep on futons to fit their large bodies. https://www.ninjajournalist.com/entertainment/michael-oher/ 10/22 12/12/2019 Mercury Reader When you are 15 years old and six-foot-two, it is hard to avoid a nickname like ‘Big Mike.’ Oher earned the nickname at a young age and only grew bigger. By 2010 when he was playing for the Baltimore Ravens, Oher was listed at six-foot-four and 309 pounds. Interestingly, the actor that played Oher, Quinton Aaron, is actually bigger than Oher. Aaron is listed at six-foot-eight and 472 lbs. Even though he is bigger than Mike, he allowed audiences to feel the size difference between Oher and his peers. https://www.ninjajournalist.com/entertainment/michael-oher/ 11/22 12/12/2019 Mercury Reader When you get to Michael Oher’s size, it’s impossible to ignore. That being said, no one likes to be reminded of their high weight and massive height at every turn of the day. In The Blind Side, Michael tells Leigh Anne that he hates the nickname ‘Big Mike.’ Sandra Bullock’s character then tells him that she will only call him by his first name. Michael Oher admitted that this scene actually happened, and that he hates the nickname. https://www.ninjajournalist.com/entertainment/michael-oher/ 12/22 12/12/2019 Mercury Reader Oher was not a fan of every part of the film. He took issue with one scene specifically in which Leigh Anne goes over to Michael while he is on the field and lectures him about protecting his teammates. Michael realizes that the film needed some Hollywood moments, but he didn’t like being portrayed as clueless. “That part right there, it really got me because it was never like that. I’ve always known how to play the game of football,” he said. “I’ve always had a passion for the game. You know, it’s Hollywood, so I mean that’s what they do, but at the end of the day it’s still a good story,” Michael expressed in an interview. He continued to describe the passion he has for the game. “I’ve always had that fire and passion in me on the field. You can’t put aggression into a person. It’s impossible.