HELL ON SLOPES
Gwyn 'out of control' before ski crash: doc
The retired optometrist who claims Gwyneth Paltrow left him permanently disabled after a crash on a Utah ski slope told a jury Monday that the actress was skiing “out of control” before hitting him.
Terry Sanderson, 76, said that “everything was going great” at Deer Valley Resort in Park City on Feb. 26, 2016, until he heard “a blood-curdling scream.”
“There was nothing in front of me,” he said on the stand. “I just remember everything was great, and then I heard something I’ve never heard at a ski resort.”
Sanderson said, “It was like somebody was out of control and hit a tree and was going to die, and that’s what I had until I was hit.”
“That’s what is going on in your mind when you hear that scream?” his lawyer said.
“They’re really seriously out of control,” Sanderson responded.
Sanderson said he was hit in the back and felt the two fists along with ski poles between his shoulder blades.
“All I saw was a whole lot of snow and I didn’t see the sky,” he said. “I was flying in that sense, and I had no control.”
He claims Paltrow, 50, negligently skied into him and then ran off. He is seeking $300,000 from her, although originally he asked for $3.1 million.
The Academy Award-winning actress had told jurors Friday, “I was hit by Mr. Sanderson and he was at fault.”
Paltrow is seeking a symbolic $1 in damages and the cost of her likely exorbitant legal fees.
The Goop founder said that while she sympathizes with Sanderson’s plight, she is not to blame for his health issues.
Her team has argued the retiree’s mental decline can be attributed to the dozen-plus pre-existing conditions he suffered from before the crash, including cancer and partial blindness in one eye.
Sanderson, who cried while testifying about the dissolution of a romantic relationship following the crash, insisted he wasn’t seeking his 15 minutes of fame.
He told the court he wasn’t moved upon learning that the person he collided with was world famous.
“To me, it’s like I’m not into celebrity worship, so I didn’t care at that point,” he said under oath.
Paltrow’s lawyers pushed back on this idea during cross-examination, citing his deposition three years ago when he responded “Yes” when asked if he thought it was “cool” Paltrow was the other party in the accident.
When asked also why he sent his daughters an email just hours after the crash with the subject line, “I’m famous,” he said he was trying to inject some “levity” into a very serious situation.
Paltrow and Chris Martin’s son, Moses, was expected to take the stand late Monday to defend his mother.