Blind Side family feud

A legal battle between a retired American football player and the family who helped raise him has reignited debate about the 2009 Hollywood film that dramatized their story.

It has also pulled the film’s lead actress, Sandra Bullock, into the controversy.

The Blind Side tells the tale of a struggling black teenager living in foster care who goes to college and becomes a star athlete with a white family’s help.

But now a court filing alleges that the rags-to-riches story is built on lies.

This week, former NFL player Michael Oher, whom The Blind Side is based on, filed a petition seeking to end his relationship with the Tuohys, the family who took him in.

Mr Oher, now 37, alleges he was never compensated for the film and "received nothing" for a story "that would not have existed without him". The film-makers have so far not commented.