What is Leigh Anne Tuohy's Net Worth?
Leigh Anne Tuohy is an American businesswoman and interior designer who has a net worth of $100 million. That is a combined net worth with her husband, Sean Tuohy. Leigh Anne and Sean earned their fortune thanks to a fast food empire. At their peak, Leigh Anne and Sean owned around 115 franchises of Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut, and Long John Silver's. The Tuohys eventually sold the majority of the franchises over the course of six different transactions for a reported total of $213 million.
Outside of their fast food empire, the Tuohy family is best known for being the subject of Michael Lewis' 2006 book "The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game" and the 2009 film adaptation "The Blind Side," which earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. In the movie, Sean was portrayed by Tim McGraw and Leigh Anne was portrayed by Sandra Bullock. Sandra won the Academy Award for Best Actress for the role. The movie tells the story of how the Tuohys took in and helped a teenage Michael Oher, who would later go on to enjoy a successful NFL career.
Leigh Anne Tuohy will probably always be best known for taking in a teenage future football star named Michael Oher. Before meeting Tuohy, Oher was homeless and had fallen through the cracks of society. He would go on to enjoy a highly successful NFL career. Leigh Anne and her husband, Sean Tuohy, were the subjects of the 2006 best-selling book "The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game." The book was eventually adapted into the 2009 movie "The Blind Side." In the film, Leigh Anne is played by Sandra Bullock in an Academy Award-winning performance. Sean is portrayed by Tim McGraw.
Leigh Anne is also a successful interior decorator. She was a design team member for the interior decorating reality TV series "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" on ABC.
2023 Complaint From Michael Oher
On August 14, 2023, it was revealed that Michael had filed a bombshell petition to a Tennessee court that claimed the central storyline of "The Blind Side" was a lie "concocted" by the family to enrich themselves at his expense. The petition requested to end Sean and Leigh Anne's conservatorship, to pay him a fair share of profits from the film, compensatory and punitive damages and that the couple be barred from using his name in future projects.
Among other shocking allegations, Michael's petition claimed that he was never actually adopted by Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy and was instead put under a conservatorship. This is important because under a conservatorship, he did not have a familial relationship with the Tuohys, and the family was able to strike deals in his name, allegedly without providing him a share of royalties that were generated by the movie and other media that features his name and likeness. The petition claimed that the family struck a deal that paid both Tuohy parents and two children, Sean Jr. and Collins, $225,000 plus 2.5% of "defined net proceeds" earned off "The Blind Side" at the box office, DVD sales, and streaming revenue.
"The Blind Side" generated $300 million at the box office on a budget of $30 million. Based on average film profit breakouts, one could presume that there were at least $150 million in net proceeds. If that was correct, the four Tuohys each presumably received $225,000 PLUS $3.75 million in royalties over time just on the box office, not including DVD and streaming revenue.
Michael's petition claimed that he did not earn anything from the money while the family made millions of dollars. Furthermore, Michael claimed the family had him sign a contract in 2007 that gave 20th Century Fox the life rights to his story "without any payment whatsoever."
This contradicts what Leigh Anne said in her 2010 book "In a Heartbeat: Sharing the Power of Cheerful Giving." In that book, Leigh Anne claimed they split the money from the movie "five ways." However, Michael's petition claims he never received any money from the movie at all.
Sean Tuoy's Response to the Complaint
A day after Michael filed his complaint, Sean gave an interview with the Daily Memphian in which he said Michael's claims "devastated" the family. He also refuted the allegation that The Tuohys made "millions" off "The Blind Side." Specifically, he explained:
"We didn't make any money off the movie. Well, Michael Lewis gave us half of his share. Everybody in the family got an equal share, including Michael. It was about $14,000 each."
Sean further stated that after selling their restaurant franchises for over $200 million, he was offended by the idea the family would want or even need to profit off Michael.
As for why Sean and Leigh Anne opted to be his conservators instead of adopting him, Sean explained:
"We contacted lawyers who had told us that we couldn't adopt over the age of 18. The only thing we could do was to have a conservatorship. We were so concerned it was on the up-and-up that we made sure the biological mother came to court."
The Blind Side Royalties
In the wake of his allegations, Alcon, the movie studio that produced "The Blind Side," released a statement that revealed exactly how much it had paid to Oher and the Tuoys. From the statement:
"Alcon has paid approximately $767,000 to the talent agency that represents the Tuohy family and Michael Oher."… The agency, presumably, took a 10% commission before passing the royalties on… "We anticipate that the Tuohy family and Michael Oher will receive additional profits as audiences continue to enjoy this true story in the years to come."
Doing a quick bit of math, after the talent agency took a 10% cut we are left with $690,000 split by the four members of the Tuohy family and Michael Oher. That's $138,000 per person, pre-tax.
Early Life and Education
Leigh Anne Tuohy was born Leigh Anne Roberts on August 9, 1960, in Memphis, Tennessee, to Virginia and Stanley. As a child, she was very close to her maternal grandmother, also named Virginia, who lived with her family. Tuohy was educated at Briarcrest Christian School in Memphis before attending the University of Mississippi. In college, she was a cheerleader and a member of the Kappa Delta sorority.
Marriage and Children
While attending the University of Mississippi, Leigh Anne was a member of the cheerleading squad and a sister in the Kappa Delta sorority. While in school, she met Sean Tuohy, who played basketball for the Ole Miss Rebels. The pair began a relationship and got married in 1982.
Leigh Anne and Sean have two biological children: daughter Collins, who was a cheerleader and state champion pole vaulter at the University of Mississippi, and son Sean Jr., who played basketball for the Loyola University Maryland Greyhounds.
Adoption of Michael Oher
In 2004, Leigh Anne and Sean took in a troubled teenager named Michael Oher, who attended the same school as their children and was apparently homeless. Oher had come from an impoverished upbringing made worse by his mother's drug addiction and his father's frequent imprisonments and had been through a series of foster homes before being apparently adopted by the Tuohys when he was 17.
Oher had already established himself as a skilled high school football player at a private school called Briarcrest. He went on to attend Sean and Leigh Anne's college alma mater, the University of Mississippi, where he earned unanimous All-American honors playing for the Ole Miss Rebels football team. Oher continued his success as an NFL offensive tackle, playing for multiple teams between 2009 and 2017.
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The Blind Side
The story of Oher, the Tuohys, and their relationship is narrated in the 2006 non-fiction book "The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game." Written by Michael Lewis, who was a schoolmate of Sean Tuohy, the book covers Oher's impoverished upbringing, his education and adoption, and his status as one of the most coveted prospects in college football. "The Blind Side" was eventually adapted into a film of the same name in 2009, written and directed by John Lee Hancock.
In the film, Oher is played by Quinton Aaron, Leigh Anne Tuohy by Sandra Bullock, and Sean Tuohy by Tim McGraw. "The Blind Side" was an enormous commercial success, grossing over $300 million. It earned particular praise for Bullock, whose performance as Tuohy garnered her the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Business Career
As a businesswoman, Tuohy has owned numerous fast-food franchises with her husband. At one point, they owned around 115 franchises of Taco Bell and Kentucky Fried Chicken. The Tuohys eventually sold the majority of the franchises in six different transactions for $213 million.
Tuohy also works as an interior designer. In 2010, the year after the release of "The Blind Side" in theaters, she was named one of three new design team members on the ABC reality television series "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." The same year, Tuohy and her husband published their book "In a Heartbeat: Sharing the Power of Cheerful Giving."
Christian Brothers University
Due to her popularity stemming from "The Blind Side," Tuohy was invited to give the commencement address at Christian Brothers University in Memphis in 2010. In her speech, she emphasized her commitment to the underprivileged and her continued efforts to encourage others to make a difference. During the ceremony, Tuohy was awarded an honorary degree from CBU.
Personal Life
Leigh Anne Roberts married Sean Tuohy in 1982. They welcomed daughter Collins in December 1986 and son Sean Jr. in July 1993.
In 2016, their daughter Collins married Cannon Smith, the son of billionaire FedEx founder Fred Smith.
Real Estate
In 2018, Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy paid $800,000 for a 5,100-square-foot home in East Memphis, Tennessee. When the couple bought the four-bedroom, 3.5-bathroom home, they already owned four other houses in the area.
