Gwyneth Paltrow‘s daughter, 18-year-old Apple Martin, testified that her mother was “shaken up” and “visibly upset” after the 2016 ski collision at the centre of a high-profile civil lawsuit in Utah.
Apple’s deposition was read aloud in court on Tuesday. Her brother, 16-year-old Moses Martin, also had his deposition read to the jury, though neither child witnessed the actual ski crash at Deer Valley resort in Utah.
Paltrow’s children, whom she shares with ex-husband Chris Martin of the band Coldplay, were expected to testify in person, but due to time constraints, Paltrow’s lawyer opted to have their depositions read aloud in court.
Retired optometrist, Terry Sanderson, is suing Paltrow, 50, for allegedly causing him serious injury after she collided into him from behind, “knocking him down hard, knocking him out.”
Sanderson, 76, claimed the crash caused “permanent traumatic brain injury, 4 broken ribs, pain, suffering, loss of enjoyment of life.” He maintains that Paltrow left him collapsed on the slope and skied away. He is suing her for more than US$300,000.
Paltrow denies any responsibility for the crash and maintains Sanderson is the one who skied into her back. She is countersuing for $1 and lawyers’ fees. Her lawyers have argued Sanderson is suing to “exploit her celebrity and wealth.”
Paltrow and her children, then 11 and nine, were skiing at Deer Valley resort with Paltrow’s now-husband, Brad Falchuk, and his two children.
Apple testified she had been ahead of Paltrow on the slope but said she did “hear some commotion” behind her while skiing. When they met at the ski lodge after the collision, Apple said her mother appeared to be in pain. She said Paltrow told her a man had knocked her down on the ski hill.
“I’ve never seen her really shaken up like that, and she was very clearly visibly upset, and she had some sort of pain,” Apple said in her deposition.
She said Paltrow did not ski for the rest of the day (a claim corroborated by Paltrow, who claimed in a since-viral clip that she “lost half a day of skiing” as a result of the injuries she sustained).
In his deposition, Moses testified that he and an accompanying ski instructor witnessed the aftermath of the crash, when he and the instructor skied over to where Paltrow was on the ground. Moses claimed a man had collided with Paltrow’s body from behind.
Moses said Paltrow was “yelling at the guy.”
“She was saying something along the lines of, ‘What the f-word. You just ran into me,’” Moses said in his deposition.
Sanderson’s legal team has previously argued Paltrow skied into Sanderson after she became distracted by Moses calling her name. Moses claimed this is not true.
It is not currently clear if Falchuk will also speak in court.
Two of Sanderson’s own daughters testified in court last week. Both women claimed their father’s personality worsened as a result of his alleged brain injury, making him frustrated, easily distracted and unable to multitask as he used to. They testified their relationship with their father suffered as a direct result of his apparent injuries caused by the ski collision.
Prior to the Martin children’s depositions being read, the jury heard more than seven hours of testimony from medical experts about neurological injuries and rehabilitation.
The Sanderson vs. Paltrow trial is ongoing.
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