Apple Martin gave her side of the story on Mar. 28, testifying in the civil case between her mother, Gwyneth Paltrow, and retired optometrist, Terry Sanderson. Gwyneth, 50, is accused of skiing into Sanderson and leaving the scene during a 2016 ski vacation in Utah. Apple, 18, had her testimony read aloud in court by her mother’s legal team and said she was skiing downhill from her mother when it all happened. “I did hear some commotion, but I was further down, so I decided to continue to go down to the lodge,” her statement began.
‘My mom told me. She was very— she told us what happened… I noticed she looked a bit shocked, and I asked what had happened, and she said, ‘This A-hole ran into me. He ran right into my back,” continued Apple’s deposition. “And I remember she did this motion saying he ran into her back and they both went down. I remember that’s what she said. She was in a state of shock. She decided after that she was not going to ski for the rest of the day, which she never does; she always stays on. But she decided to get off because she was in shock and she was in a bit of pain.”
“I never see her really shaken up like that. She was very clearly visibly upset, and she had some pain,” added Apple. Her younger brother, Moses Martin, 16, also weighed in on the incident as he was closer to his mother at the time of the crash. “I recall skiing with my instructor and briefly seeing the collision,” he said in his deposition. Then he skied over, and I followed him. And I saw my mother and a person behind her who had crashed.”
“I realized the equipment that she was wearing because I know what she wears when she skis and then I realized that it was my mom. So I was standing around and I realized that it was my mother,” he later said. The son of Gwyneth and Chris Martin also said he heard his mother “yelling at the guy… She was saying something along the lines of ‘What the f-word? You just ran into me.'”
Moses also said that his instructor, Eric Christiansen, was “not angry” or “yelling” at the incident. “I remember him addressing the situation very calmly,” Moses said. “He tried to find out what was going on and how he could help people… He tried to get everyone out of the situation safely.”
Apple and Moses’s statements come four days after Gwyneth testified about the trip. She initially said that when the impact happened, she thought for a moment that it was sexual assault. “It was a quick thought that went through my head. There was a strange grunting noise and a body behind me, so I was trying to make sense of what was going on. My mind was going very quickly,” she said.
Sanderson alleged that the actress crashed into him and “knock[ed] him down hard, knocking him out and causing a brain injury.” He also claims that he suffered four broken ribs and more injuries from the incident and alleges that Gwyneth and her ski instructor skied away instead of getting him medical help. He is seeking $300,000 in damages after initially attempting to sue Gwyneth for $3.1 million. She filed a countersuit, claiming he skied into her. She’s only seeking $1 and attorney’s fees.