‘There was a blood-curdling scream... then Paltrow hit me’

Actress laughs at accuser’s account

THE man who claims Gwyneth Paltrow collided with him while skiing last night alleged that she was ‘seriously out of control’ before smashing into his back.

Terry Sanderson told a jury the actress let out a ‘blood curdling scream’ when she collided with him at the ski resort in Utah in 2016.

He broke down in tears while describing how he felt he was ‘living another life’ because of the four broken ribs and permanent brain injury he suffered. Ms Paltrow laughed and shook her head during Mr Sanderson’s testimony. Her son Moses, 16, daughter Apple, 18 and husband Brad Falchuk, 52, are all due to testify later. All of them were on the ski trip to the Deer Valley Resort which led to Mr Sanderson, a retired optometrist, suing for $300,000 (£244,000) damages. At the court in Park City, Ms Paltrow, 50, eyeballed Mr Sanderson as he walked by her to the witness box. He ignored her.

Mr Sanderson, 76, said he was skiing down the right side of the run and ‘everything was great’. He said: ‘Then I heard something I’ve never heard at a ski resort, a blood curdling scream. It was ahhhhhh and then boom.’ He smashed his hands together. ‘It was like somebody was out of control and was going to hit a tree and was going to die,’ he said.

At this Ms Paltrow, wearing a black cardigan, pleated black midi skirt, white shirt and $1,200 (£980) Celine boots, shook her head and laughed.

He said: ‘I got hit in my back so hard, it was perfectly centred and the fists and the poles were right there at the bottom of my shoulder blades, serious, serious smack. Never been hit that hard and I’m flying, I’m absolutely flying.’ Mr Sanderson blacked out but was later hleped down the mountain for medical attention.

Only then did he find out that he had collided with Ms Paltrow, but he told the jury: ‘I’m not into celebrity worship so I didn’t care at that point’.

He denied he thought it was ‘cool’ to hit a celebrity. He said he ‘didn’t pick my words well’ in an email to his daughters which said: ‘ I’m famous.’ He added: ‘I was trying to add some levity to a serious situation. It backfired.’

Mr Sanderson said he felt he was ‘living another life now’ and his brain injury left him speaking in a way he said was ‘upside down and backwards’.

He said his relationship with his family had become challenging and he was a recluse.

He began to cry as he told how he asked his then partner Carlene to leave him because, he told her: ‘I’m not sure I’m going to get back to normal… You need your life, you run’.

Earlier the court was shown online messages posted by Craig Ramone, a friend of Mr Sanderson’s who was the only witness. He said: ‘You cannot make this up. Gwyneth Paltrow took out Terry last week. She took her plane out of Million Air (private) airport. Gwyneth took out Terry and just took off’.

Ms Paltrow has said Mr Sanderson was ‘categorically’ the one who hit her. She is counter suing for $1 (81p), plus legal fees. The trial continues.