Gwyneth Paltrow skiing crash – latest: Actor testifies she thought skiing accident was ‘sexual assault’

Rumoured GoPro video footage of Paltrow’s ski collision may not actually exist, the court 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.”

Taylor Swift had a surprising cameo in Gwyneth Paltrow’s ongoing ski collision trial on Friday (24 March).

Terry Sanderson claims Paltrow slammed into him in a “full body hit” while skiing at the Deer Valley resort in Utah, leaving him with “permanent traumatic brain injury, four broken ribs, pain, suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, emotional distress and disfigurement”.

Radiologist Dr Wendell Gibby, who examined Mr Sanderson, told the court the man had the “typical hallmarks” of a brain injury, and his quality of life “deteriorated abruptly” following the crash, drastically changing things for the typically “very high-functioning, high-energy person.”

“Terry had been a high-functioning, active person,” Dr Gibby said. “Every day he was doing lots of things. Meeting groups, wine tasting, skiing, volunteering.”

“I think that the ability to function at a high level was lost for Terry … many of the things that gave him pleasure in life seem to have been abruptly diminished by this injury,” the doctor continued.

The radiologist said Mr Sanderson’s injuries, including broken ribs, would not have been “plausible” according to Ms Paltrow’s version of events, where the Goop mogul argues it was Mr Sanderson who rammed into her without warning.

Gwyneth Paltrow has been branded a “prima donna” for complaining about cameras pointing at her during her trial for a ski collision.

Gwyneth Paltrow has appeared in a US court to stand trial in a case in which the Oscar-winning actress is alleged to have collided with a skier Terry Sanderson, leaving him unresponsive at the Deer Valley Resort in Utah in 2016.

Mr Sanderson’s attorneys said they plan to call Paltrow to the stand to testify on Friday, but could do so earlier in the week depending on the other witnesses’ availability, reported the Associated Press.

Paltrow’s husband, Brad Falchuk, and her two children 18-year-old Apple and 16-year-old Moses are also expected to testify.

5.1KPlanes turn back to New York airports as all flights in US grounded, tracker shows

The man skiing with the film star was Eric Christensen. At first, he and the Deer Valley Resort Company were named in the petition. They were later removed when a judge restricted the argument to be about the collision and to being between Ms Paltrow and Mr Sanderson, with the hit-and-run issue removed from the dispute.

The ruling led to the claim now being one of negligence against Ms Paltrow for allegedly causing the crash while what took place afterwards is out of bounds for the proceedings, KSL reported.

“No one with knowledge of Ms. Paltrow’s post-collision actions claims to have observed Paltrow acting recklessly,” the judge wrote in his order. “Even when interpreted in the light most favorable to [Sanderson], the undisputed facts fail to support his claim that Paltrow’s post-collision actions were likely to result in substantial harm, that they were highly unreasonable or an extreme departure from ordinary care, or that they came with an apparent and high degree of danger.”

While Mr Sanderson claims that Ms Paltrow and Deer Valley staff members skied away after the collision, Ms Paltrow alleges that Mr Sanderson told Mr Christensen that he was alright. Ms Paltrow says in her counterclaim that Mr Christensen alleged in a report that Mr Sanderson was responsible because he had “taken [Paltrow] out from behind”.

Mr Sanderson’s legal filing says that the report is false as the staff member didn’t witness the collision.

The Oscar-winning actor is being sued by retired optometrist Terry Sanderson, who alleged that she skied “out of control” and hit him at Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah.

Paltrow appeared in court on Tuesday for opening statements in the case, wearing a high-necked cream jumper and brown trousers.

Lawrence Buhler, representing Mr Sanderson, told jurors that Paltrow’s behaviour on the mountain in 2016 had been “reckless”.

“Ladies and gentlemen… distracted skiers cause crashes. Defendant Gwyneth Paltrow knew that looking up the mountain and to the side while skiing down the mountain was dangerous,” he said.

“[She] was looking somewhere else blindly skiing down a mountain while looking up… [this] was reckless.”

Mr Buhler added that an injury being caused was “not a matter of if, but when” and that Paltrow “knew what she was doing was dangerous”.

He went on to tell the jury that the actor’s “neglect and conscious choices” had combined together to cause Mr Sanderson “four broken ribs and permanent brain damage”.

Gwyneth Paltrow says she briefly thought a 2016 ski collision was in fact a sexual assault and “froze” when a set of skis suddenly “forced my legs apart.”

Gwyneth Paltrow reiterated multiple times that she had been the “victim” of a ski crash, as she began giving evidence in her US trial.

The Oscar-winning actress said she did “not believe” the testimony of previous witnesses and that her version of events was “categorically” the truth.

Ms Paltrow is being sued by retired optometrist Terry Sanderson over a collision at the Deer Valley resort in Utah in 2016.

She is accused of “slamming” into Mr Sanderson on a ski slope and falling on top of him, leaving him with several broken ribs and a severe concussion.

Ms Paltrow has denied the allegations, claiming that Mr Sanderson collided with her, and is counter-suing him.

The actress entered the witness box to give evidence wearing a dark blue skirt and a button-down blouse and began her evidence by describing herself as an “intermediate” skier who was “familiar” with the rules of skiing.

She denied that she had been engaging in “risky behaviour” on the day of the collision and reiterated multiple times that she had been skied into from behind by Mr Sanderson.

“I was confused at first and I didn’t know exactly what was happening,” she said, describing the incident.

“It’s a very strange thing to happen on a ski slope. I froze and I would say I got very upset a couple of seconds later.”

She added: “(I thought) Is this a practical joke? Is someone doing something perverted?… my mind was going very quickly and trying to ascertain what was happening.”