“I love him”. The phrase that the actress whispered to him Gwyneth Paltrow to her plaintiff, emerging victorious from the Court of Park City (Utah), ends up closing with a bow that image of a modern and executive woman who has a very good life, a company to manage (Goop), red carpets to walk, two children, an honor to defend and also the kindness that the actor perhaps didn’t deserve.
The man, a 76-year-old retired optometrist, insists she crashed into him on a ski slope at a Utah resort in 2016 and left him lying in the snow, sustaining numerous physical and emotional injuries. She claims he was the one who punched her from behind as she stood watching her children. The jury believed her. The optician’s photos around the world a year after the accident were crucial. And also the serenity with which the actress insisted on being heard.
There is a well-founded belief that Hollywood celebrities don’t like to expose themselves. They are seen trying to protect their private lives with high-walled mansions, thick groves, burly bodyguards. Gwyneth Paltrow proved this week that this isn’t a foolproof rule. The man sued her for $300,000 (she tried to ask for $3 million, but the courts found that was a lot).
The Oscar winner could have settled out of court, but she preferred to let a jury (and the public) hear her defense and acquit her. She countered a dollar and her legal team fees, which are expensive, and the jury awarded it to her. Unanimously, even when it was a civil trial, a majority was enough.
Between Trump and the health of the Pope
The national news reported his victory on Friday morning, after devoting much more space to the impeachment of the former president. Donald Trump, to the Pope’s health and to the arrest of an American journalist in Russia. National news feeds fed their viewers, whether on TV or phones, for an entire week.
Almost all the media outlets were fascinated by the way Gwyneth Paltrow dressed every day to go to court. With her water always at hand, her Armani suit, $1,450 combat boots, one green pilot left worn out the same day he wore it.
While some assumed her wardrobe was calculated to impress the “conservative chic” judging panel, it should be no different than the one she uses to commute to her company’s offices in the Santa Monica neighborhood of Los Angeles. On the pages of Goop (“a lifestyle for modern people”), in fact, clothes and accessories appear at steep prices.
Interviewed in an entertainment program, the artistic director of Oprah Winfrey’s company said that they are elevated basics, very elegant, that anyone can reproduce the look by purchasing a similar and much cheaper version in Gap, Banana Republic or H&M.
The trial always seemed over the top, the Court was filled with Paltrow fans and bloggers, many locals accustomed to the celebrities who visit them every year for the Sundance festival didn’t want to be left behind. The decision to televise it gave Court TV and Law & Crime good ratings and exposed the Academy Award-winning actress for passionate Shakespearean to a constant prejudiced gaze.
His integrity was at stake and victory was avenged, he acknowledged. “She wanted to leave a message to her children that their rights are worth fighting for,” said one of her lawyers. To young Moses and Apple, whose father is the singer Chris Martinthey were expected in court on Wednesday but were ultimately spared visibility and someone read their testimony in defense of their mother.
The new victory doesn’t overshadow all the other cultural battles it has yet to win: its products are seen as frivolous, its diets branded as dangerous. Always something to talk about. Of course, it is now known that Gwyneth Paltrow likes to have the last word. Get in line if you want to sue.
Source: Clarin
