Gwyneth Paltrow accuser testifies in ski collision trial, describes ‘bloodcurdling scream’

The man suing Gwyneth Paltrow over a 2016 ski crash has described the “bloodcurdling scream” that rang out as they collided.

Gwyneth Paltrow is being sued over a ski accident. Picture: Rick Bowmer-Pool/Getty Images

A Utah man who claims he was severely injured after Gwyneth Paltrow skied into him took the stand on Monday after lawyers revealed that a new piece of evidence had surfaced.

Paltrow, 50, is being sued for $US300,000 ($A450,000) by retired optometrist Terry Sanderson, who claims the actress skied into him from behind at Utah’s Deer Valley Resort in 2016, Fox News reports.

In court, Mr Sanderson recalled the ski collision and the “bloodcurdling scream” he heard as Paltrow allegedly skied into him.

“There was nothing in front of me. I just remember everything was great, and then I heard something I’ve never heard at a ski resort,” he 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 Kristin Vanorman asked.

“They’re really seriously out of control,” Mr Sanderson replied.

The 76-year-old 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.”

Terry Sanderson is suing Gwyneth Paltrow. Picture: Rick Bowmer/Pool/AFP

Mr Sanderson also said on the stand he doesn’t “believe in celebrity worship,” but he did email his children on the same day of the accident with the subject line: “I’m Famous.”

Paltrow’s lawyer Stephen Owens asked questions regarding Mr Sanderson’s memory of the incident.

“Do you agree that you do not have a perfect memory of what you told others in the one, two, three minutes after the collision?” he asked.

“Answer would be, no it’s not perfect,” Mr Sanderson said.

“You don’t even remember that ski patrollers came by?” Mr Owens asked.

“No, I don’t remember that,” Mr Sanderson said.

The retiree got emotional while discussing his relationship at the time of the collision, claiming he told his girlfriend Karlene Davidson to leave him.

Ms Davidson told the jury last week that Mr Sanderson “started pushing [her] away” after the accident.

“He had no joy left in his life,” she said. “Not knowing what he was dealing with, I thought it was relationship-status things, and so I blame a lot of it on that … and now looking back, I think there was a lot going on.”

Paltrow testified during her trial on March 24. Picture: Rick Bowmer-Pool/Getty Images

Ms Davidson was dating Mr Sanderson at the time of the collision and said their relationship fell apart shortly after the incident. She described Mr Sanderson as “fun-loving, joyful and very ambitious” with “a lot of energy”. Ms Davidson “had a lot of trouble keeping up with him”.

Mr Sanderson’s testimony followed the introduction of new evidence in the trial which came from a viewer who has been following the trial, and investigated the link in an email Terry Sanderson sent to his daughters. The viewer sent a copy of the message to lawyers, who had previously not been able to recover the link.

Craig Ramon, the only eyewitness to the crash, was called back to the stand briefly on Monday morning to discuss the posting on Meetup.com.

Paltrow’s lawyer plans to call the actress’ husband Brad Falchuk and her children – Apple, 18 and Moses, 16 – to testify in her defence.

The Oscar-winning actress spent roughly two hours on the stand on Friday as she answered questions from both Mr Sanderson’s lawyer and her own. She gave her account of what occurred – saying multiple times that Mr Sanderson skied into her from behind.

She said 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 said. “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 said. “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 emphasised that she’s not claiming she was sexually assaulted, that’s just “what went through [her] mind when it happened”.

The jury heard from two of Mr 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.

Shae Hareth became emotional on the stand. Picture: Rick Bowmer-Pool/Getty Images

Ms Grasham spoke about the moment she realised 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,” she said.

That’s the moment she knew something was “terribly wrong”.

Paltrow and Mr 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 Mr Sanderson’s medical condition prior to and following the collision.

Mr 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.

Mr Sanderson originally sued the actress, Deer Valley Resort and an instructor for $US3.1 million ($A4.6 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 Mr 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 Mr Sanderson previously admitted he didn’t have a clear memory of the accident.

The actress is seeking lawyers’ fees and $US1 ($A1.50).

This article originally appeared in Fox News and was reproduced with permission