Actress Gwyneth Paltrow testified Friday she felt like she was being sexually assaulted after an impact with a skier who is suing her over a 2016 collision on the slopes in Utah.
Paltrow, 50, collided with retired optometrist Terry Sanderson, 75, at the Deer Valley resort in Park City.
He initially filed a civil suit for $3 million, but is now seeking $300,000 — alleging that her carelessness caused him brain damage and other injuries.
Sanderson, a military veteran, claims in a suit he originally filed in 2019 that Paltrow was skiing behind him, thus giving him the right of way.
Therefore, he claims, the accident was her fault. The star, meanwhile, has claimed Sanderson was the one who hit her.
Paltrow was allegedly looking behind her at her children in the moments leading up to the collision.
She told a court Friday that the moment initially made her feel as though she was a victim of sexual assault.
“I was confused at first, and I didn’t know exactly what was happening,” she testified. “It’s a very strange thing to be happening on a ski slope. I froze, and I would say I got very upset a couple seconds later.”
Under questioning from Sanderson’s attorney, Paltrow explained the incident happened quickly, Fox News reported.
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“So that was a quick thought that went through my head when I was trying to reconcile what was happening,” she said of the incident. “Two skis came between my skis forcing my legs apart and then a body pressed against me.”
The actress said she wondered if something “perverted” was happening.
“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.”
While the GOOP founder did not claim to have been sexually assaulted, she said collision ended with her and Sanderson “spooning.”
According to CBS News, she also said, “He was groaning and grunting in a disturbing way.”
She explained it was just “what went through [her] mind” during the hit.
Sanderson is suing Paltrow over what he called a “permanent traumatic brain injury” as well as broken ribs and emotional distress.
His daughter has claimed he has not been the same since the incident and that he is distracted and that his relationship with his granddaughter has been negatively affected.
Paltrow’s two children are also scheduled to testify in the case. The actress is countersuing Sanderson for $1 plus attorney fees.
