Celebrity
Porn, Affairs Ruin Case for Peter Cook, Christie Brinkley Gets Full Custody
By Adam Higgins

Jul 11, 2008

Christie Brinkley

In one of the most intense and salacious celebrity divorces ever to be covered by the media, the Christie Brinkley/Peter Cook divorce trial ended abruptly Thursday with an out-of-court agreement granting the supermodel full custody of her children, the Associated Press reported.  

Under the agreement, Cook will get $2.1 million but Brinkley will keep 18 properties that were in question in the Hamptons. Cook will get parenting time with the children under an arrangement agreed to by both parties.  

The rest of the settlement was confidential.  

Lawyers for both parties pulled an all-nighter to settle the details of the case, Brinkley's lawyer, Robert Stephan Cohen, told the court. Many predicted a settlement was coming after the trail was abruptly halted amid some fairly heavy revelations Tuesday.  

The trial, which was in its sixth day, did not bode well for Cook, who had throughtout the course of the proceedings admitted to several allegations about his marriage-ending affair with an 18-year-old intern at his architectural firm, Diana Bianchi.  

Cook admitted to giving Bianchi a $300,000 payoff to keep her mouth shut about the affair, as well as to spending upwards of $3,000 a month on pornography and to engaging in sexual acts online.  

Just Tuesday, Brinkley dropped another bombshell, saying she never would have married Cook if he had been honest with her about a drug conviction when he was in his 20s. According to the Associated Press, Cook was convicted in the selling of drugs.  

Brinkley took the stand and said Cook greatly minimized the details of his arrest, adding that she later found out the arrest hadn’t taken place in New York City, but rather in “a gay truck stop,” according to People Magazine.  

A court appointed shrink had advised Tuesday that Brinkley be granted sole custody. Dr. Stephen Herman suggested both Cook and Brinkley need therapy, but it is Cook who is the real danger.  

The shrink said he needs “constant reassurance” to feed his narcissistic ego and ruled out a join custody arrangement as a viable solution.  

He added that he recommended Cook be a part of the children’s lives but minimally. He further suggested that Brinkley seek out therapy as "an outlet for her anger and feeling of betrayal" by Cook, according to the Associated Press.