Taylor Swift had a surprising cameo in Gwyneth Paltrow’s ongoing ski collision trial on Friday (24 March).
Terry Sanderson claims Paltrow slammed into him in a “full body hit” while skiing at the Deer Valley resort in Utah, leaving him with “permanent traumatic brain injury, four broken ribs, pain, suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, emotional distress and disfigurement”.
Follow The Independent’s live coverage of Paltrow’s trial here.
He is seeking $300,000 in damages from the Oscar winner. Paltrow alleges it was Sanderson who caused the accident and is countersuing him for $1 in damages.
Sanderson’s attorney Kristin VanOrman asked the actor about the “symbolic” damages she was suing for while Paltrow was on the stand on Friday.
“It’s an actual dollar that I’m asking for,” Paltrow told the jury, clarifying that “it’s symbolic because the damages would actually be more”.
VanOrman then proceeded to question Paltrow about whether she’d got the idea for the $1 damages from Taylor Swift who famously was awarded that amount in 2017 after winning a groping trial against former radio host David Mueller.
“I think I said [when you asked me] that I had not been familiar with [Swift’s trial] but I since am,” Paltrow responded.
“Are you good friends with Taylor Swift?” VanOrman continued, to which Paltrow replied: “No.”
“I would not say we are good friends, we are friendly; I’ve taken my kids to one of her concerts before but we don’t talk very often,” she added.
“You’ve never given Ms Swift personal, intimate gifts for Christmas,” VanOrman asked. However, Paltrow never got a chance to answer as Paltrow’s lawyer questioned the relevancy of the question, which Judge Kent Holmberg sustained.
VanOrman appeared to be referencing the 2021 Goop holiday gift guide in which Paltrow showed the gifts she was giving to her famous friends that year. The ad for Paltrow’s lifestyle brand showed her choosing between a red scarf and a vibrator, before putting the vibrator in a bag marked “Taylor Swift”.
Elsewhere in her testimony Friday, Paltrow said she first thought someone may have been doing “something perverted”, as she alleged Sanderson’s body pressed into her back during the accident.
She was quick to tell the court that she was not in any way accusing Sanderson of sexual assault.
The trial, in Park City, Utah, continues.
