The retired optometrist suing Gwyneth Paltrow over a 2016 Utah ski crash made a bizarre comparison between the Oscar-winning actress and late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein during cross-examination.
Terry Sanderson, 76, said Paltrow needed to be held “accountable” after she allegedly slammed into him during a ski trip at Deer Valley in Utah — and then alluded to a list of allegations launched against Epstein before his eventual arrest.
”I guess like, what is going on here? This is obviously an issue that someone needs to be accountable for, and if they’re never accountable, what are they gonna do? They’re gonna do it again,” Sanderson said on the stand.
“Now we have the… molesting of young children on an island,” he added, referencing Epstein’s “Pedophile Island” where he trafficked and abused dozens of girls.
Paltrow, who was notably among the A-listers who outed disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein in the #MeToo movement, appeared dumbstruck by Sanderson’s comparison.
Paltrow’s attorney Stephen Owens, slammed the testimony, calling it “ridiculous” before Judge Kent Holmberg cut both sides off and instructed the jury to disregard the comparison from Sanderson’s testimony.
Sanderson had been brought back to the stand Wednesday as Paltrow’s lawyers grilled him about his globe-trotting ventures following the crash despite claiming that the injuries he sustained left him unable to enjoy his pastimes.
Sanderson said despite the smiley photographs he posted on social media from his trips, he “struggled” during many of those excursions, which he noted were all to prove he “didn’t have any mental issues.”
He maintains that Paltrow skied into him and took off, while he suffered a traumatic brain injury that depleted his quality of life and ruined his relationships with his girlfriends, family and friends.
Paltrow testified last week that she thought she was being sexually assaulted when Sanderson allegedly rammed into her.
Animation put together by her defense recreating her version of the crash shows Sanderson crashing into her from behind, with the two falling down shortly after in a “spooning” position.
Sanderson is seeking $300,000 in damages from the famous actress, who filed a countersuit for $1 in damages as well as the cost of her legal fees.
The trial is expected to end on Thursday following the closing arguments from the plaintiff and defense.
