What is Leigh Anne Tuohy’s Net Worth?
Leigh Anne Tuohy is an American businesswoman and interior designer who has a net worth of $50 million. Leigh Anne will probably always be best known for adopting 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.
At one point, 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 in six different transactions. She 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.
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Early Life and Education
Leigh Anne Tuohy was born as 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, Tuohy met Sean Tuohy, who played basketball for the Ole Miss Rebels. The pair began a relationship and got married in 1982. They 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
Tuohy and her husband added a third child to their Memphis, Tennessee home in 2004 when they decided to let a troubled youth named Michael Oher live with them. 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 picked up and eventually adopted by the Tuohys when he was 17. Oher had already established himself as a skilled high school football player at Tuohy’s alma mater of Briarcrest. He went on to attend Tuohy’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 with the Baltimore Ravens from 2009 to 2013.
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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.
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 2004, the Tuohys took in Michael Oher, a high school football player who had been in foster care since the age of 7, and they later adopted him. Michael went on play for the NFL. As we previously noted, this experience was adapted into a book and then a film.
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.
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