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Gwyneth Paltrow’s lawyer has apologized for being an “a**” during her ski crash trial.

The Oscar-winner, 50, is using lawyer Stephen Owens to battle a claim from retired optometrist Dr. Terry Sanderson, 76, she left him with permanent brain damage after allegedly colliding with him and then fleeing the scene in 2016 at the Deer Valley Resort, Utah.

Mr Owens admitted on Thursday – the third day of the trial over the incident – he had been an “a**” after he cross-examined former army medic Dr. Sanderson’s daughter Polly Sanderson-Grasham, who was called as a witness for her dad.

According to the New York Post, the attorney said after she returned to the stand following a break in proceedings: “I need to apologize I was being an a** earlier.

“It was wrong for me to triangulate you, your dad, your sister, and your mom. I ask for your forgiveness.”

The attorney appeared to have been referring to a tense moment earlier in the day when he asked Polly if her sister, Jenny – who had claimed in a deposition that their dad was abusive – was a liar.

Jenny, who was due to testify before she backed out, had said in a deposition her dad “relentlessly tried to mould” her.

Polly agreed he did try to “mould” Jenny, but said it didn’t go as far as abuse, and when Mr Owens then asked her if she thought her sister was a liar, she replied: “Sometimes we experience events differently.”

She also told Park City Court in Utah her dad had been left in “a really negative place” since the skiing accident.

Polly claimed before the collision her father was “fun-loving” and “gregarious”, as well as a “goer” and a “real positive influence”.

But she told jurors her dad is now “easily frustrated” and becomes “agitated” and “angry”, with a “pretty short fuse” when it comes to his temper – which she said hadn’t happened before the accident.

Dr Sanderson is suing ‘Sliding Doors’ actress Gwyneth for $300,000 and has claimed she was “out of control” when she struck him, leaving him with a debilitating brain injury as well as four broken ribs.

Gwyneth is also facing the accusation she “bolted” from the scene of the accident – which she strongly denies, instead insisting it was Dr Sanderson who crashed into her.

Mum-of-two Gwyneth – whose children Apple and Moses were 11 and 9 respectively at the time of the ski accident – has been said in court to have been distracted on the slopes by one of her children yelling: “Mommy, Mommy watch me ski,” before the crash.

Gwyneth is countersuing Dr Sanderson, who wants $300,000 in compensation for his apparent brain damage after the collision, and says she wants “symbolic damages” of $1 plus her legal fees covered.