Shelly Sterling regarding Donald: ‘I couldn’t believe that was him’

When asked at the beginning of her testimony on Wednesday if she was separated from her husband Donald, Shelly Sterling chuckled and said, “Sort of.”

It was a day of contradictions for the couple, who went from loving to fiery in a matter of minutes. It culminated at the end of Shelly’s testimony, when she walked over to her husband and Donald snarled at her, “Get away from me, you pig!”

In her testimony, Shelly recounted her side of the falling out that occurred after a recording of Donald’s racially charged comments to a female friend of his had been released. Shelly said that after the recording was released, she flew to New York to meet with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. On that trip, Donald went on CNN for an interview with Anderson Cooper. The now-famous video showed a side of her husband that Shelly didn’t recognize.

“I couldn’t believe it and I started crying,” she testified. “I felt so bad. I couldn’t believe that was him.”

After that interview aired, a friend of Shelly’s told her that she needed to get Donald tested for Alzheimer’s disease. That conversation turned into doctor’s visits, the results of which are being argued in Los Angeles Superior Court this week.

Shelly said on Wednesday that she still loves and cares about her husband. She’s his primary caretaker, the one who schedules appointments, picks up medications and sorts through his pills. Throughout the testimony, she maintained that whatever actions she took with doctors was out of love.

“I thought for his own health and for my health he had to be tested, because there’s something wrong,” she testified. “He’s been getting more forgetful. He’s slurring his words. He’s agitated a lot. He gets mad for no particular reason. He’s just not the same person that he used to be.”

Due to time constraints, Shelly’s examination was cut short on Wednesday. Along with the cross-examination, her examination will continue Thursday at 1:30 pm.

Love, it seems, will almost certainly be on the docket.

Follow Everett Cook on Twitter @everettcook