CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. — Christie Brinkley’s fiercely combative divorce trial ended Thursday following a week of salacious testimony about her fourth husband’s affair with a teenager and his Internet porn proclivities.
The settlement gives her custody of their two children and some property. The husband, Peter Cook, gets $2.1 million.
“I’m really glad that today we found some peace,” said Brinkley, beaming as her silver peace-sign earrings glistened off a galaxy of camera flashes. She clutched her son’s elaborate dinosaur diorama, used as trial evidence that she’s a good mother who helped him with his science project.
She told reporters that while she was happy with the settlement, there was not much to celebrate.
“It’s to me a very bittersweet moment because it really is the death of a marriage,” said Brinkley, 54, who has three other ex-husbands.
Signs of an accord emerged Wednesday when testimony was repeatedly interrupted so attorneys could confer among themselves and with the judge. After an all-night negotiating session at a nearby hotel, the parties reached an agreement about 6:15 a.m. Thursday, said Brinkley’s lawyer, Robert Stephan Cohen.
He declined to identify the catalyst for consensus. But on Tuesday, a court-appointed psychiatrist said he thought Brinkley should be granted custody of the couple’s 10-year-old daughter, Sailor, and 13-year-old son, Jack, whom Cook adopted; his biological father was Brinkley’s third husband.
The psychiatrist’s testimony followed one embarrassing revelation after another for Cook, while Brinkley largely came across as a caring mother.
“I think it was pretty clear where this case was going and so it got resolved,” said Brinkley’s lawyer.
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