Christie Brinkley has recalled the moment she discovered her husband Peter Cook was having an affair with a woman many years his junior.
After 10 years of marriage, Cook’s affair with his 18-year-old assistant led him and Brinkley to call it quits.
What followed were lengthy divorce proceedings and a custody battle over their daughter, Sailor, and son Jack (Brinkley’s son whom Cook had adopted). Brinkley, now 71, is also mum to daughter Alexa Ray Joel.
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The split captured headlines at the time but Brinkley has spoken very little about what happened – until now.
In her new memoir, Uptown Girl, Brinkley reflected on her relationship with Cook and shared more details on the moment she learned of his affair.
It was 2006, and Brinkley claims she was giving a graduation speech at a high school in the Hamptons when she was approached by a man she hadn’t met before, per People.
“I need to tell you that arrogant husband of yours has been having an affair with my teenage daughter,” the man allegedly told Brinkley.
In her memoir, Brinkley writes that the news left her “so stunned that [she] froze”.
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On hearing this, Brinkley claims that she looked for Cook who was sitting in the audience with their son.
“Peter’s eyes were already trained on my face, as he began shaking his head, ‘No’,” Brinkley wrote.
“When your whole world falls apart and you realise in a heartbeat you’ve suddenly become the cliché middle-aged woman whose husband is having an affair with a much (much) younger woman, what do you do?” she continued.
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After receiving support from her friends, Brinkley claimed she did some digging on her family computer and found a “labyrinth” of files.
“A panoply of incriminating photos and porn accounts populated the screen like fireworks,” she wrote.
Brinkley and Cook finalised their divorce in 2008 and settled a six-year-long custody and divorce battle in 2012.
During their divorce proceedings Cook revealed he had an affair with his 18-year-old assistant and spent US$3000 a month on Internet pornography.
The revelations shattered Brinkley’s “perfect life”. She asked for full custody of the couple’s two children.
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“I didn’t want this trial. It’s humiliating for all of us,” Brinkley said on the witness stand in New York family court in Central Islip, Long Island.
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The settlement arrangement awarded Brinkley custody of the couple’s children, while Cook was given “parenting time” and a financial settlement of US$2.1 million (approx. 3.4 million).
Brinkley kept all of the couple’s properties, including 18 properties in the Hamptons.
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Brinkley writes in her memoir that her marriage with Cook was “the most tortured relationship I’ve ever had,” per People.
“There were many times when I wondered if I would ever recover,” she wrote.
“Whenever I felt this, I stopped, looked inward and counted my blessings, which was a long list that always started with Alexa Ray, Jack, and Sailor.”
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