.
.
.
Full video:
‘Mom, a guy just grabbed my a**’ Taylor Swift’s mother Andrea sobs in court and reveals how she felt sick when the pop star said the Denver DJ ‘groped’ her
Taylor Swift’s mother sobbed on the stand as she spoke about the moment she was informed her daughter had been groped, telling court that she knew something was ‘horribly wrong’ the moment she walked into her dressing room.
Andrea, 59, said: ‘I went into the dressing room and I saw her face. I could see that there was something horribly wrong. She [Swift] said, ‘Mom, a guy just grabbed my ass.’
The mother-of-two broke down as she told the jury about how Swift was left feeling ‘destroyed’ in the aftermath of the groping incident.
She said: ‘One of the things I think that stuck with me [about that night] was that [Taylor] couldn’t believe that after the incident, after he grabbed her, that she thanked him for being there.
‘She said thank you. It was destroying her that she said that after someone did that to her. It made me question why I taught her to be so polite in that moment.’
Andrea explained that she and other members of Swift’s management team chose not to call police because they wanted to keep the incident private and did not want her to have to ‘endlessly relive’ the moment.
The 59-year-old added: ‘I did not want her to have to live through endless memes and gifs and anything else tabloid media or internet trolls would be able to come up with; making her relive this awful moment over and over again.’
Taylor Swift’s mother Andrea testified in court Wednesday about when her daughter told her she was ‘groped’. Andrea said she was upset and felt like she wanted to ‘vomit and cry at the same time’
Taylor Swift and David Mueller’s tiral was delayed for two hours today so the legal teams could privately review evidence. He is seeking $3 million from Taylor Swift, accusing her of being the reason he was ‘wrongfully’ fired from his $150,000-a-year job
This court sketches drawn on Wednesday August 9 shows Swift with her lawyer, Doug Baldridge and her mom
‘We wanted to keep this private but we did not want to let him get away with it.’
Asked whether she had questioned Swift’s bodyguard about the alleged sexual assault after hearing about it from the singer, Andrea replied:
‘I wasn’t going around checking things out. I knew what happened. I had heard it from her. I heard it from my daughter’s mouth.
‘He sexually assaulted her, right there, that guy [Mueller].’
She smiled as she talked about Swift’s ‘sweet’ upbringing on a farm in Reading, Pennsylvania, but became visibly angry when Mueller’s lawyer asked her if her son Austin had ever been accused of sexual assault.
The line of questioning was disallowed by Judge William Martinez.
This photo of Shannon Melcher (left) and David Mueller (right) with his hand behind Taylor Swift at the Pepsi Center was leaked last year. Potential jurors were asked if they had seen this image which is expected to form part of the evidence against Mueller
Taylor Swift’s mother Andrea (seen above in a court sketch from Wednesday’s hearing) said she was left upset to the point where she wanted to ‘vomit and cry at the same time’ after being told her daughter had allegedly been groped at a concert.
Taylor Swift’s mother Andrea said she was left upset to the point where she wanted to ‘vomit and cry at the same time’ after being told her daughter had allegedly been groped at a concert.
Wearing a black and white patterned jacket and with her blond hair worn loose, the 59-year-old appeared composed as she began her testimony – confirming her relationship with Swift and her employment at 13 Management.
But when she was asked about the moment she heard of the incident, Andrea grew vehement, telling the court: ‘I was upset to the point where I felt like I wanted to vomit and cry at the same time. Emotions evolve but I was far more upset and trying to be attentive to my daughter than I was consumed with anger.’
She also described the evening of the alleged assault in June 2013 as ‘very complicated’.
Andrea also said she had not been in the ‘photo booth’ at the time of the alleged grope and was told of the incident afterwards.
She was also asked about the photograph of Swift with the DJ taken on the night and told court that it left her feeling ‘sickened’.
She told the jury: ‘The reason I saw it was because they were using this to find him and the second I saw it, I knew there was something horribly wrong, horribly wrong going on in that picture.’
The mother-of-two said she knew something was wrong because of the look in her daughter’s eyes and the ‘frozen smile’ on her face.
She added: ‘I looked at it and I was sickened.’
Concluding the cross-examination, Swift’s attorney asked if she had heard any facts that had convinced her Swift had not been sexually assaulted.
Watched by her daughter and her husband Scott, Andrea turned towards Mueller and said: ‘Absolutely not.’
Asked who had assaulted Swift, Andrea replied: ‘David Mueller did.’
A court sketch shows Taylor Swift was seated with Andrea on one side and Attorney J. Douglas Baldridge on the other side on Tuesday
Taylor Swift is seeking a token $1 award and a verdict that holds Mueller responsible and serves ‘as an example to other women’. She is seen above in a Tuesday court sketch
Her first appearance on the witness stand came shortly after former radio host David Mueller completed his testimony with a plea to restore his ‘good reputation’.
In closing remarks, he said: ‘I’m here to prove that I’m innocent. I had a good reputation in radio and I would like to get it back.’
Under questioning from Swift’s lawyer Douglas Baldridge, he said he was no longer looking for a $3 million award but instead wanted to restore his name and resume his career in radio.
He acknowledged that a photo of him with his hand behind the singer is ‘weird and awkward’ in court Wednesday.
Her lawyer also claimed several people noticed Swift was upset after the incident when David Mueller allegedly grabbed her.
He also reminded the court that Swift’s bodyguard Greg Dent previously testified in a deposition that he had seen Mueller lift Swift’s skirt.
The trial was delayed for nearly two hours this morning, while the two sides held private talks over evidence.
Jurors, spectators and members of the media were ordered out of the courtroom while discussions took place – holding up proceedings, which had been due to start at 8.45am.
Swift, 27, is still to take to the witness stand but could appear as early as this afternoon once cross-examination of Mueller is complete.
Mueller, 55, a former radio host based in Denver, Colorado, filed suit against Swift in September 2015 and claims she lied about him lifting her skirt and grabbing her bottom during a meet and greet in June 2013.
