Continental Airlines flight attendant Maria Johnson testified that Victoria Osteen grew increasingly agitated and pushed her co-worker Sharon Brown, though the flight attendants had remained professional and reassured her a crew had been called to clean the spill, which was about the size of a 50-cent piece.

"She was demanding that attention be given to her immediately," Johnson said. She added that Victoria Osteen kept saying: "This is ridiculous. I'm a first-class passenger."

Brown is suing Victoria Osteen, alleging that she threw her against a bathroom door and elbowed her in the left breast before the start of a 2005 flight to Vail, Colo.

Johnson confirmed Brown's claims that Victoria Osteen became so upset she tried to get into the cockpit and had to be physically restrained.

"She took Sharon by the shoulders and pushed her out of the way. Sharon stumbled," Johnson testified.

Rusty Hardin, Victoria Osteen's attorney, said the lawsuit is simply a money grab.

"This is nothing more than an attempted extortion," Hardin told jurors during opening statements in the civil trial in which he said his client did nothing wrong.

Victoria Osteen is co-pastor of Houston's Lakewood Church, a converted basketball arena where about 42,000 people flock each week for services where her husband preaches.

Joel Osteen, who was by his wife's side in court Thursday, has written books that have been sold around the globe, and his weekly television address is broadcast nationally and internationally.

Brown's attorney, Reginald McKamie, told jurors during his opening statement that his client was simply doing her job.

"Sharon was attacked by someone in the community who supposedly represents a higher degree of human decency," he said.

Brown's suit claims the flight attendants asked to have Victoria Osteen removed from the plane. Hardin told jurors Victoria Osteen and her family left voluntarily. The incident delayed the flight about 2 1/2 hours.

Hardin admitted that Victoria Osteen can be a "very excitable and expressive person," but that she was never out of control.

"Victoria Osteen never attacked her, never tried to get in the cockpit," Hardin said. "The aggressor and the person who was out of control, who flipped out, was Ms. Brown."

The Osteens were both expected to testify during the trial.

Brown wants an apology and punitive damages amounting to 10 percent of Victoria Osteen's net worth as part of her suit.

"They will say this is about money. But that is the only remedy a jury can offer," McKamie said.

McKamie said Brown, who had undergone reconstructive surgery before the incident on her breasts due to illness, was injured when she was hit on her chest. Brown also suffers from anxiety because of the incident and that her faith was affected, her attorney said. Brown is also suing Victoria Osteen for medical expenses for counseling.

But Hardin told jurors there is no evidence Brown sustained any injuries, including claims she now suffers from hemorrhoids.

The Federal Aviation Administration fined Victoria Osteen $3,000 for interfering with a crew member.

Hardin told jurors Victoria Osteen paid the FAA fine not because she was guilty but as a way to conclude the matter and avoid any embarrassment for her church.

      *Morgan Freeman and his wife of 24 years, Myrna Colley-Lee, have filed for divorce, according to the actor's longtime business partner.

       Bill Luckett, who co-owns a restaurant and blues club in Clarksdale, Miss. with Freeman, says the split was in the works way before Freeman's Sunday night car crash with female passenger Demaris Meyer, 48.       

       A tabloid reported that Freeman, 71, and his wife have been separated since December 2007. The National Enquirer claims Colley-Lee consulted a divorce attorney after hearing that Freeman cheated on her with "a close family friend."

       “Myrna was terribly upset when she heard Morgan had become intimate with a woman who had been her friend,” a source told the National Enquirer.      

       Yesterday, Luckett told USA Today that he and the actor have been friends with Demaris "for some time."       

       Freeman was driving her Nissan Maxima when he lost control of the vehicle and it flipped over several times before landing in a ditch near his home in Tallahatchie County, Miss.

       Bill Rogers, a retired police officer who was the first to arrive at the scene, said Freeman managed to relay that he and Meyer were headed to his home in Charleston, a small town some 90 miles south of Memphis.

       "He said that they were friends and she had offered him a ride home and she didn't really know the way and so he was going to drive the vehicle," Rogers told the Associated Press Tuesday. "They said they were coming from Clarksdale."      

       Freeman and Luckett's Ground Zero Blues Club and Madadi restaurant are in Clarksdale. Norris, the manager of Ground Zero, said Wednesday that Freeman had not been there the night of the accident. No one at Madadi was available for comment, according to the AP.      

       Freeman suffered a broken arm, broken elbow and minor shoulder injuries during the crash. He had surgery Monday on his left arm and hand, but his recovery is expected to take months. Luckett says Freeman will have to wear a neck brace for six to eight months, and his arm will take several months to heal.      

       Luckett also said earlier reports of Freeman having a severed nerve in his arm were not true. "Nothing was severed. A nerve can be bruised or stretched. It was injured but not severed," he said.

       Freeman could be released in the next few days from the Elvis Presley Memorial Trauma Center at the Regional Medical Center in Memphis.