Interview with the real-life couple from The Blind Side: The Tuohys

When The Blind Side hit theaters last fall, the movie instantly gave inspiration to lots of people and thrust Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy into a spotlight they had never been in before.

The Tuohys reached out to young Michael Oher and gave him a home and helped him out when no one else would, and now he’s a talented young offensive lineman for the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens. Meanwhile, his adopted parents — who were played by Oscar winner Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw in the film — are spreading their message of giving all over the country with their new book, In a Heartbeat: Sharing the Power of Cheerful Giving.

Here they talk a little about their journey that started when they gave a simple ride to a young teenager six years ago:

How has your life changed since The Blind Side?

It’s just positive – the phone calls we get, the correspondence and the emails, the stories we hear and the things that are being done. Innately, Americans are all very giving people by nature, and this movie has definitely brought it to the forefront of everybody’s mind. It’s just had an impact and it was at a much-needed time. It was one of those perfect-storm situations. We think that anybody’s name could have been replaced and put up there as opposed to ours, but that’s just part of the deal.

You've become a symbol for how much people can care.

If we stepped back and really tried to examine this, it would scare us to death and we’d turn our tail and run! We’re like Forrest Gump when they ask him where he was going when he was running, and he said, “I don’t know but I sure hope I like it when I get there.” It’s that same theory: We’re not sure where we’re going and we just hope we like it when we get to the end of it.

Is the family still based in Memphis?

That’s where we spend the majority of our time. Obviously we float up to Baltimore to see Michael a good bit. [Our daughter] Collins and [Leigh Anne] went up after the White House Correspondents Dinner.

Have you met President Obama yet?

I hope at some point we’re gonna get to do that. We’ve met a lot of amazing people and the Obamas are certainly on the top of the list of people we would love to meet. We’ve heard he has seen the movie, and we’ve received correspondence that he liked it.

Of course, you are on this message of giving. If a person wants to help out others, what's the key for them getting started?

To just start. You have to get your heart committed to do something. And the big key there is it doesn’t have to be big. It doesn’t have to be small. It has to be whatever hits your heart, and then your heart will direct you from there.