Terry Sanderson testified in a Park City court on Monday.
Terry Sanderson is speaking out. On Monday, the 76-year-old retired optometrist, who is suing Gwyneth Paltrow for allegedly causing him significant injuries in a 2016 ski crash, testified in court about an email he sent his daughters shortly after the incident.
The email in question included the subject line "I'm famous...," which Sanderson explained in his testimony.
"My head was scrambled, [but] all I was trying to do was desperately communicate with my kids before they heard from somebody else [that] I got crushed," Sanderson told the Park City, Utah, jury. "I didn't pick my words well, not at all how I felt, and I was really trying to add a little levity to a serious situation and it backfired."
During his testimony, Sanderson added that, while he does have a GoPro camera, he "did not have it on that day."
"I would have loved to have it," he said. "It was what we needed."
Sanderson sued Paltrow in 2019 for $3.1 million in damages, which has since been amended to $300,000 after several of his claims were dropped by the court. In his suit, Sanderson claims that the actress allegedly knocked him over while skiing a beginner-level course, a collision that left him with "a brain injury, four broken ribs and other serious injuries."
He further claims that Paltrow was skiing in an "out of control" manner and skied away without calling for help. He also alleges in the lawsuit that he was blamed for the accident by Deer Valley Resort staff in a filed incident report.
However, Paltrow, who is countersuing Sanderson for $1 in symbolic damages plus attorney fees, alleges in legal documents that Sanderson "admits he does not remember what happened" and that "Ms. Paltrow remembers what happened very clearly."
In those documents, Paltrow claims that Sanderson, "who was uphill from Ms. Paltrow, plowed into her back," causing her to sustain "a full 'body blow,'" which left her "angry." She further claims Sanderson "apologized" and that she was shaken and upset and quit skiing for the day even though it was still morning.
Paltrow, 50, already had her turn on the witness stand, and was adamant that Sanderson crashed into her from behind during her testimony.
"My brain was trying to make sense of what was happening," she said of her thoughts during the collision. "I thought, 'Is this a practical joke? Is someone doing something perverted? This is really strange.' My mind was going very, very quickly and I was trying to ascertain what was happening."
RELATED CONTENT:
