Hugh Freeze, who served as the football coach at Briarcrest Christian High School where Oher played football, believes that the family would be the first one to hug Oher and 'tell him he's loved' if he were to call them to settle the issue.
- August 23, 2023
AceShowbiz - Michael Oher's former football coach has weighed in on the fallout between the NFL star and the Tuohys. When offering his two cents on "The Blind Side" drama, Hugh Freeze praised the family as he called them "admirable."
"I love Michael Oher. He's like part of our family. I love the Tuohys," Freeze said via The Auburn Observer. "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.
Freeze, who served as the football coach at Briarcrest Christian High School in Memphis where Oher played football, went on to note that the Tuohys would have welcomed the athlete warmly if he called them. Freeze said he also believes that the family would be the first one to hug Oher and "tell him he's loved."
"I think it will all ... whatever happens will happen, of course," he further elaborated. "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."
Oher filed a lawsuit against the Tuohy family earlier this month, alleging that Leigh Ann and Sean Tuohy never actually adopted him, but instead created a conservatorship that gave them legal authority to make business deals in his name. The former athlete said he only learned of the conservatorship in February of this year. However, his 2011 memoir appears to show that he was aware of the conservatorship long before he took legal action.
As for Sandra Bullock, who stars as Leigh in the 2009 movie, she is reportedly "upset" that her hard work has been "tainted" by the fallout over the lawsuit against the Tuohy family. "She hates that such a wonderful story, a spectacular movie, and a spectacular time in her life now has been tainted," a source close to the 59-year-old told Daily Mail. "Now people won't watch it and if they do, they will have a completely different reaction to its original intention."
