Shae Sanderson accuses Gwyneth Paltrow of ‘ignoring’ her father in mountain ski crash
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news
Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email
Gwyneth Paltrow’s ski collision trial in Utah entered its fourth day on Friday.
Terry Sanderson, 76, has accused the Hollywood star of crashing into him on a ski slope at the Deer Valley resort in Park City, Utah, in February 2016, leaving him with “permanent traumatic brain injury, four broken ribs, pain, suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, emotional distress and disfigurement”.
Meanwhile, Paltrow claims it was Mr Sanderson who crashed into her — and that he told his daughter afterwards that he was “famous.” The Goop mogul is expected to be called on the stand by Mr Sanderson’s attorneys today.
In court on Thursday, Mr Sanderon’s lawyer Robert Sykes hit out at the star’s legal team for asking his daughter about claims by another daughter that their father was abusive.
Mr Sykes claimed that Paltrow’s team was only going down that route because the actor “is worried about the way this case is going”.
“You can’t just attack someone’s character because his client is worried about the way this case is going,” he said.
Mr Sanderson is seeking $300,000 from Paltrow while she is seeking a symbolic $1 in damages and for her legal fees to be covered.
Terry Sanderson’s attorney has claimed that Gwyneth Paltrow is “worried” about the way the trial is going.
Gwyneth Paltrow did not ask anyone at Deer Valley about Mr Sanderson’s condition
“Did you ever ask, ‘Hey how is that guy who ran into my back,’ Did you ask anyone at Deer Valley about that?” an attorney for Mr Sanderson asked.
Ms Paltrow answered: “I did not because at the time, I did not know he had sustained injuries like that.”
“... When you are the victim of a crash, your psychology is not necessarily about the person who perpetrated it.”
Goop Mogul says she is ‘starting to shrink'
Under cross-examination, Ms Paltrow was asked how tall she is.
“I’m just under 5’10,” Ms Paltrow said.
Her answer prompted an unlikely pleasant exchange between her and an attorney for the man who is suing her.
“I’m so jealous,” the lawyer said.
Ms Paltrow then said: “I’m starting to shrink, though.”
“You and me both. I have to wear four-inch heels just to make it to 5’5’’.”
Gwyneth Paltrow briefly thought ski collision was sexual assault
Ms Paltrow says she “froze” when two skis came between hers, “forcing her legs apart.”
“And then there was a body pressing against me and there was a very strange, grunting noise,” Ms Paltrow said. “My brain was trying to make sense of what was happening.”
“I thought, is this a practical joke? Is someone doing something perverted? This is very strange.”
The Goop mogul later clarified that she was not accusing Mr Sanderson of sexual assault, but that at the moment of the accident, her brain was trying to reconcile what was going on.
Gwyneth Paltrow confronted for ‘lack of common decency’
When asked if she was aware that not leaving the scene of a ski collision is not only a rule in skiing but also common decency, Ms Paltrow argued that she had left her information with her skiing instructor.
“Because I was hit by Mr Sanderson and I assumed he was at fault,” Ms Paltrow said. “[My instructor] said he would leave all the information ... I said you should go ski down because my kids were waiting for me.”
Read more:
Court takes recess
Judge Kent Holmberg said parties will reconvene in 30 minutes.
GoPro video footage of Gwyneth Paltrow ski crash may not exist
Rumoured GoPro video footage of Gwyneth Paltrow’s ski collision may not actually exist, the court has heard on Friday.
Reference to footage of the 2016 incident had previously been made during the trial in an email sent by Mr Sanderson’s daughter.
The jury was previously shown an email, sent by Shae Sanderson-Herath, in which she referred to possible GoPro footage of the crash.
But giving evidence on Friday, Ms Sanderson-Herath said she had not actually seen any such footage, though she had believed it existed at the time.
“After my dad told me about what he was feeling and that he could hardly think, and that he had rung his bell I believe he mentioned, there had to be GoPro video,” she told the court.
“He said there has to be GoPro footage because there was this big blood-curdling scream, so that means someone with a GoPro would have turned to look and captured it.”
She added: “I have never seen GoPro video and I don’t know that it does exist. I believed there was GoPro video at the time and that’s why I said that.
“I just wanted my dad to have peace of mind that there was video out there that showed what happened.”
Gwyneth Paltrow’s attorney hits out at Terry Sanderson’s daughter
Steve Owens said he felt like “the wet blanket” exposing unpleasantries because Mr Sanderson’s daughters were painting an unfavourably positive view of him.
“Help me out,” Mr Owens said. “Are you saying that everything about your dad’s personality was good before the accident and everything about your dad’s personality was bad after the accident?
Under cross-examination, Shae Sanderson denied those remarks.
Terry Sanderson’s daughter accuses Gwyneth Paltrow of ‘ignoring’ her father in mountain ski crash
Terry Sanderson’s daughter accuses Gwyneth Paltrow of ‘ignoring’ her father in mountain ski crash
Terry Sanderson was ‘fun-loving, gregarious goer’ before accident, daughter tells jury
Ms Sanderson-Grasham said her father had been a “fun-loving, gregarious” man prior to the incident, describing him as a “goer” and a “real positive influence”, as well as an experienced skier.
But she said seeing him at her own daughter’s graduation around three months after the skiing crash had been like a “slap in the face”.
“I felt like ‘wow’. There was a moment when I almost expected drool to come out of his mouth,” she said.
“He wasn’t engaged with anyone… that was my first slap in the face that something is terribly wrong.”
She added that her father could now not “see the forest for the trees” and got stuck “in the minutiae” of things.
“He’s easily frustrated, he gets agitated, angry – I didn’t have memory of him being an angry person but he’s got a pretty short fuse these days,” she said.
“I think he’s just a little more cautious, not as confident – he’s in a really negative place and that’s hard for me as his daughter.”
Ms Sanderson-Grasham later became emotional, telling the court: “I hope that (my father) moves on. I hope that we’re able to put this very strange chapter behind us.
“We don’t always choose the doors we walk through but we can choose how we walk through them. We have a lot of healing to do.”
