A Utah man who claims he was severely injured after Gwyneth Paltrow skied into him is expected to take the stand Monday in the ongoing civil trial.
Paltrow, 50, is being sued for $300,000 by retired optometrist Terry Sanderson, who claims the actress skied into him from behind at Utah's Deer Valley Resort in 2016.
Paltrow's attorney plans to call the actress' husband Brad Falchuk and her children – Apple, 18 and Moses, 16 – to testify in her defense Monday once the plaintiff's lawyers rest their case.
The "Shakespeare in Love" actress spent roughly two hours on the stand Friday as she answered questions from both Sanderson's lawyer and her own. She gave her account of what occurred – declaring multiple times that the retired optometrist skied into her from behind.
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Paltrow explained she initially thought she might have been getting sexually assaulted when the collision happened.
"So that was a quick thought that went through my head when I was trying to reconcile what was happening," Paltrow explained. "Two skis came between my skis forcing my legs apart and then a body pressed against me."
"My brain was trying to make sense of what is happening," she added. "I thought, ‘Is this a practical joke? Is someone doing something perverted?’ My mind was going very, very quickly, and my mind was trying to ascertain what happened."
Paltrow noted it felt like they were "spooning" when the two fell to the ground. She also emphasized that she's not claiming she was sexually assaulted, that's just "what went through [her] mind when it happened."
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The jury heard from two of Sanderson's three daughters last week. Polly Grasham and Shae Hareth both testified about changes they have observed in their father's personality since the ski collision.
Grasham spoke about the moment she realized something was "terribly wrong" with her father, about a year or year and a half after the accident.
"His processing speeds," she said, were slower and "the effort that it took, definitely when we were in person… I felt like, wow."
"I almost expected drool to be coming out of his mouth because he was not engaged with anyone and had taken himself to a remote corner," Grasham added.
That's the moment she knew something was "terribly wrong," she said.
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Paltrow and Sanderson are in a legal fight over a 2016 ski collision that left the retired optometrist severely injured, according to a 2019 lawsuit. Jurors heard testimony last week from doctors speaking on Sanderson's medical condition prior to and following the collision.
Sanderson accused the Goop founder of skiing off after the accident, which left him with a "permanent traumatic brain injury, four broken ribs, pain, suffering, loss of enjoyment of life," along with emotional distress and disfigurement, according to the lawsuit.
Sanderson originally sued the actress, Deer Valley Resort and an instructor for $3.1 million and claimed he was a victim of a hit-and-run. A judge dismissed the claim, and Deer Valley Resort and the instructor were removed from the lawsuit.
Paltrow has maintained that Sanderson actually skied into her and claims she stuck around until given the OK to leave by a Deer Valley Resort ski instructor. The 50-year-old actress also said in her countersuit that Sanderson previously admitted he didn't have a clear memory of the accident.
The actress is seeking attorneys' fees and $1.
