June 26, 2025 The Best Source of News, Culture, Lifestyle for Culver City, Mar Vista, Del Rey, Palms and West Los Angeles

Gwyneth Paltrow Testifies Against Stalker, Recounts Letters Sent to Brentwood Home

Gwyneth Paltrow choked up when shown an email she wrote to her security team after she received a letter at her Brentwood home that she believed was from her stalker Dante Soiu. (Thinkstock: Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Gwyneth Paltrow choked up when shown an email she wrote to her security team after she received a letter at her Brentwood home that she believed was from her stalker Dante Soiu. (Thinkstock: Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Oscar-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow said Monday she was left in fear by a flood of letters and emails allegedly sent by a man who was sent to a mental health facility after his 2000 conviction for stalking her and is accused of committing the same crime again.

Testifying in the trial of Dante Michael Soiu, 66, Paltrow said she has “been dealing with this for 17 years” and feared for her safety and her children’s safety.

“I’m in fear because the communications seem to completely defy logic,” she told the six-man, six-woman jury.

Tearful at times, Paltrow read portions of more than 60 letters and emails allegedly sent by Soiu.

In her own description, they ranged from “religious to pornographic to threatening.”

The actress choked up when shown an email she wrote to her security team after she received a letter at her Brentwood home that she believed was from Soiu. She said her mail is generally screened by others, and does not arrive at her home.

“I was terrified,” she told the jury.

She told her security team that she wanted to learn the “bite” and “attack” commands for a guard dog and that “I don’t want him to sleep locked up anymore,” she wrote.

“I need a panic button,” she told the team.

She said Soiu sent her women’s clothing that was intercepted by security personnel.

In one of the letters attributed to Soiu, he wrote, “I love you and I want to marry you.”

He allegedly sent a letter — an exhibit at trial — to Paltrow’s husband Chris Martin, writing, “To the person who is doing it all wrong, you need to turn around and do it right.”

The letters were full of religious references.

“The religious letters suggest that God has ordained him … to be with me … that he is above the law, that God has told him so,” Paltrow said.

One letter read aloud in court stated, “I have no law of sin and death concerning you … to me there is no law … no law of restraint.”

Soiu was arrested in Ohio last year and brought to Los Angeles, where he was charged with one felony count of stalking. He allegedly sent nearly 70 threatening letters and packages to the actress beginning in 2009, the same behavior that had landed him in a hospital before.

Beginning in March 1999, Soiu sent hundreds of letters, emails and packages to the actress and then showed up outside her parents’ home in Southern California in May of that year.

After being asked to leave and later being interviewed by FBI agents in Ohio, Soiu returned to the parents’ home twice.

Deputy District Attorney Rhonda Saunders, who prosecuted the earlier case, said Soiu sent “four to five letters, emails, packages a day,” and made at least one “threat of a sexual nature.”

“If I was his victim, I would be very afraid of him,” Saunders said at the time.

Soiu testified at trial saying he didn’t mean to scare the actress.

In 2002, a state appeals court upheld his conviction, noting that in one of the many letters he sent to the actress, Soiu wrote that “he was going to take God’s scalpel and cut the ‘sin’ out of Ms. Paltrow.”

The court noted that Soiu admitted writing about 3,000 letters to former President George Bush, and while testifying, acknowledged sending 150 letters to President Bill Clinton, in which he said he was “working on helping him come out of his sexual problems.”

His attorney contends that Soiu is not trying to threaten Paltrow, only send her letters expressing his Christian beliefs.

Defense attorney Lynda Westlund grilled Paltrow about her understanding of scripture. She asked Paltrow if she could quote from Corinthians and whether she understood born-again Christians’ interpretation of the Bible.

The actress said her knowledge was “cursory” but that the references scared her.

Westlund also asked her to read aloud a sign-off from Soiu, “as always and forever, I am your friend.”

Another communication, however, read, “We can be one in the spirit, soul and body … form a covenant of one … we meet in God.”

Paltrow, 43, won an Oscar for best actress for her work in “Shakespeare in Love.”

Related Posts

Santa Monica Police Arrest Shooting Suspect After Officer Ambushed Near Downtown Mall

June 26, 2025

June 26, 2025

Man Linked to Waymo Vehicle Gunfire Taken Into Custody Following Tense Manhunt The suspect wanted in connection with a shooting...

Michelin Stars Shine Bright on LA: Somni West Hollywood and Providence Earn Top Honors

June 26, 2025

June 26, 2025

Two Restaurants in Los Angeles Receive Three Stars as Michelin Guide Celebrates Bold Flavors The MICHELIN Guide California 2025 celebrated...

Cherished Culver City Ice Cream Vendor Abducted in Broad Daylight

June 26, 2025

June 26, 2025

Ambrocio “Enrique” Lozano’s Disappearance Led To Grassroots Action Ambrocio Lozano, also known in the neighborhood as Enrique, was abducted around...

Culver City Leaders Address Youth Safety Crisis After Teen’s Death, Gunfire at Vigil

June 25, 2025

June 25, 2025

Leaders Respond Following Tragedy and Shooting at School Vigil Culver City officials convened a press conference Wednesday morning to confront...

Brentwood Home by Landry Design Group Wins Top National Architecture Award

June 25, 2025

June 25, 2025

Landry Design Group Wins Gold Nugget Awards for Brentwood, Crestwood Projects Landry Design Group (LDG) earned two top honors at...

(Video) WISE & Healthy Aging Helps Loved Ones Boost Their Quality of Life

June 24, 2025

June 24, 2025

See How the Nonprofit’s Innovative Programs Advance the Dignity of Life for Older Adults See How the Nonprofit’s Innovative Programs...

Masked Federal Agents Detain Iranian Asylum Seeker and Wife in Westwood

June 24, 2025

June 24, 2025

31-Year-Old Woman was Hospitalized After Possible Medical Emergency On Tuesday, June 24, between 11:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., near the...

Culver City Pride Rolls In with Sunset Ride and Rally June 28

June 24, 2025

June 24, 2025

Celebrate With a 6-Mile Pride Ride and Free Block Party Culver City will mark its fifth annual Pride celebration on...

Los Angeles Leaders Push to Ban Masks for Federal Agents Amid Immigration Raids

June 24, 2025

June 24, 2025

Concerns Grow Over Anonymous ICE and CBP Officers in Los Angeles   A growing coalition of California lawmakers and local leaders...

Squatter-Plagued Beverly Grove Buildings Could Be Razed After Hazard Cleanup

June 24, 2025

June 24, 2025

Demolition of Three Abandoned Apartments May Begin in Two Weeks Three abandoned apartment buildings in Beverly Grove may soon be...

From Westwood to DTLA, Angelenos March Against Military Escalation in Iran

June 23, 2025

June 23, 2025

Protestors Rally at the Westwood Federal Building This Weekend Following President Donald Trump’s authorization of airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear-related...

Overnight Traffic Stops in Culver City Lead to Felony Arrests, DUI Bust

June 23, 2025

June 23, 2025

Culver City Police Nab Suspects Wanted for Burglary and Identity Theft Culver City police officers arrested three individuals in separate...

LAPD Sergeant Killed Assisting Crash Victims on 405 Freeway in Brentwood

June 23, 2025

June 23, 2025

Tragic Early-Morning Collision Claims Two Lives, Including Veteran Sergeant Two people, including an LAPD sergeant, were killed early Monday in...

Recent Homebuyer Down Payments Slip for First Time in Nearly Two Years

June 23, 2025

June 23, 2025

April’s Median Down Payment Fell as Buyers Lean Toward Lower-Cost Homes The median down payment made by U.S. homebuyers dropped...

Del Rey Affordable Housing Project to Rise on Former Charter School Site

June 23, 2025

June 23, 2025

Community Corp., Local Faith Group Team Up to Build 122 New Apartments Plans are moving forward for a new residential...