Yesterday Christie Brinkley went on The Today Show, allegedly to promote her role in “Chicago” on Broadway, but she spent the whole time talking about how her ex husband, Peter Cook, had done her wrong. Christie and Peter share custody of their two teen children after their 2008 divorce. Christie recently filed for unpaid child support from Peter, after he missed five months or so of his meager $1,200 a month support. Peter claimed he was watching the kids full time during the period while Christie was on Broadway, and that he contacted their lawyers beforehand and got permission not to pay child support for that time. He said this on “Nightline” earlier this month and also claimed that Christie was trying to “publicly castrate” him in the press. On “The Today Show” yesterday, Christie called Peter a narcissist, denied that she had fought to make their divorce public and stated that it was NY law that all divorces were public, and she also said that she never wanted to make the latest details of their court filings public at all.

Well now Peter is firing back, of course. This will never end. He issued a statement saying that Christie is just trying to continue to vilify him, basically, and that she lied about not deliberately trying to make their divorce public record.

Cook fired back in a furiously worded statement: “Christie was entirely dishonest about the circumstances surrounding the current court action which was precipitated by her and . . . is doing further damage to our children . . . I am also shocked by the blatant lies she told regarding our divorce proceedings of four years ago, including denying the indisputable fact that she fought for an open courtroom despite the warnings it would harm our children.” He fumed she, “will stop at nothing to continue the drama in our lives in order to harass me and keep herself relevant in the media.” He rails at the accusation that he’s a “deadbeat dad,” saying. “[She] does not want peace, she wants attention.” He concludes Brinkley still wants revenge on him for cheating with Diana Bianchi, adding: “Clearly, Christie does not believe I was punished enough four years ago for my indiscretions in our marriage, but for the sake of our children I wish she would find a way to move on.”

[From The NY Post]

It is true that family courts in NY State are technically supposed to be open to the public by law. A 2011 NY Times investigation found that 90% of them were not open however, and stated that judges routinely made decisions to close cases for privacy reasons. So it’s probably true that Christie fought to have her divorce open to the public, as was reported at the time.

Cook also spoke to NBC News, just like Christie, and he was pissed. His interview with Savannah Guthrie starts at about 1:17 here:

Cook said that “the entire content of [Christie's] interview was a lie, where she claims that I am harassing and bullying her… we haven’t had a conversation in four and a half years. We haven’t e-mailed each other directly in two years, so this perception that I am harassing and bullying her is nonsense.”

He also called her tears “crocodile tears” and claimed “Ever since the separation she has been on a campaign to smear me. There is no Peter Cook press machine. I have no interest in the press.. you don’t hear about Peter Cook until Christie Brinkley brings something up from the past to make herself relevant again.”

Give me a break, this guy has been giving tons of interviews. He claimed he’s just “Defending attacks by my ex wife” and that “I have not breached confidentiality, she did in this morning’s interview… we’re allowed to speak… about anything post-divorce. Discussing issues that are pre-divorce is a violation of confidentiality.”

As for the irony of both of them calling each other narcissists, (a clever question by Guthrie), Cook deflected it by claiming narcissism somehow made him a better father. “Yeah, there’s a part of my narcissism that makes me a really great dad… narcissism makes you focus attention on something.”

Cook admitted his public battle with Brinkley was “terrible for my children, but the damage was done when she fought to open that court in 2008. This is in Google eternity.”

I’ll just end this here. It’s getting too complicated and annoying for me. These two were probably perfect for each other for at least a decade. They seem to have a lot in common with the way they’re still bickering over their custody issues.

Christie and Peter are shown in 2004 and 2005. Credit: WENN.com

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Christie Brinkley and her fourth husband, architect Peter Cook, divorced after 12 years in 2008. The divorce was public and we learned some pretty damning details about Cook, including the fact that he’d had an affair with an 18 year-old intern he hired (and later paid a reported $300,000 to keep quiet) and that he had a very expensive online porn habit, costing thousands a month. Christie and Peter have two children, daughter Sailor Lee, 13, and son Jack, 16. (Jack is from Christie’s third marriage, to Richard Taubman, and was adopted by Peter. Christie also has daughter Alexa Ray Joel, 26, from her first marriage, to Billy Joel.)

Some think Christie should have kept all of her husband’s ridiculous indiscretions quiet in order to spare their then-tween children the details. I initially had that opinion, but Christie is claiming that she had nothing to do with the fact that her divorce was public and that Peter spread that story in order to malign her.

After I saw Peter interviewed on 20/20 in late 2008, I had much more sympathy for Christie. Peter basically blamed Christie for the fact that he cheated on her, and used the old “my wife wasn’t paying attention to me” line. He said crap like “I was seeking a connection I could not find in my own marriage” as if all of that was on Christie, not him. Later we found out that he had secretly made sex tapes of himself with his 18 year-old mistress, with the mistress publicly stating that it was without her knowledge or consent.

Well now Christie Brinkley, 58, is returning to Broadway in “Chicago,” and she’s still feuding with her ex over child support and visitation issues. Peter pays $1,200 a month child support, but he’s not up to date on his payments. After Christie filed paperwork with the courts claiming she was owed child support and that Peter was sending her nasty e-mails, Peter went on Nightline earlier this month and spewed a bunch of crap about how Christie was “publicly castrating him.” (His interview starts at 1:55 into this video.) Peter claimed that he didn’t owe support for a period of time in which Christie was away working, because he was watching the kids full time. Well Christie did her first interview on her divorce on The Today Show this morning. She also claimed that Peter has been trying to destroy her image, she called him a narcissist and she broke down crying.

“Since the day that he realized that I was not coming back, there has been a real character assassination going on. I asked for and got a confidentiality agreement with the original divorce. I alone have maintained the confidentiality agreement.

“I had offers for a sympathetic show from Oprah… everyone asked me to come on, I did not want to do it.”

“I have turned the other cheek,” she said, adding that her former spouse of 12 years has repeatedly taken to the airwaves to air their dirty laundry. “There’s not one quote from me, anywhere. This is the first time I’ve ever been on a show (to talk about the split).

“I’m really here because next week I’m going to start promoting Chicago. This became such a big deal. I’ve endured about two weeks of lies and stories, when actually four months prior… I quietly filed to protect my family from that. Part of my suit, I was actually clear to the judge ‘please determine this on paper.’

She revealed that Cook pays $600 per month for each of their children, though he has been quoted as saying he pays “double” what’s required by courts. “It’s a very minimal amount of money,” she said. “And it wasn’t (about) the money. I have hesitated to do anything with the court because he actually likes the publicity and he likes going to court.”

While Cook has called Brinkley a “narcissistic egomaniac,” Brinkley seems to feel much the same way about him: “I have never taken part in name calling. The only thing I’ve ever said … at the end of that (second) trial I said as a public service, ‘Google “divorcing a narcissist.”‘ … I’m not alone. I’ve gotten hundreds of letters from women that are going through this. It’s not easy.”

Lauer was concerned about the impact all of this back-and-forth between the parents was having on their teenaged children; Brinkley returned that there should be “legislation that protects families from a spouse who has been diagnosed by the court-appointed forensic psychiatrist as a bona fide malignant or extreme narcissist…. This is something the courts need to come to grips with.”

But as time wound down, and there was little chat of “Chicago,” Brinkley lost her own grip. While telling Lauer she has not been in touch with Cook for two years, though “he continues to contact me,” she said she asked a judge to “please make this stop, protect my right to peace. I just want peace for my family.”

Tears welling in her eyes, Brinkley said, “I just want peace. And every time I have any joy or any kind of success in anything, he has to try to destroy it.”

[From Today.com]

The stuff about the confidentiality agreement didn’t sound entirely right to me. As I mentioned, I thought that Christie fought to have the divorce made public, however she told Matt Lauer that “in New York State divorce court is always open. I had my trial like every other woman going through a divorce.” She might not be able to write a book about it, but all the crap that her ex did is already out there. I did find the rest of her argument somewhat persuasive. Her ex went on TV complaining about her after she filed what she says was standard court paperwork for child support. She’s claiming that she didn’t mean for this to be public at all. So now she’s trying to clear the air and defend herself.

As the article above explains, Matt tried to call out Christie for feuding with her ex and creating a “poisonous atmosphere” which could “severly impact” the children. She then retorted that her ex husband is a narcissist and has a personality disorder. She didn’t take any responsibility for her relationship with him, but I’m not in her position and maybe it’s as bad as she’s saying. It didn’t make sense to me in that she still seems to be blaming him, though. She then broke down crying, saying that she just hopes for peace in her life. At least Lauer made the point that there are two sides to every story. I tend to agree with him.

Christie is show at the Heart Truth’s Red Dress Fashion Show on 2-8-12. Credit: Darla Khazei, PacificCoastNews.com. Note that I didn’t pick the worst photos of her on purpose. These are the most recent photos of Christie that we have, and they all look like this. Peter Cook is shown at an event in the Hamptons on 5-29-10. Credit: WENN.com

I followed Christie Brinkley’s rather fascinating divorce closely last year. Christie came across as a kind of neurotic power mom who worked hard to make life fun and cupcake-filled for her two youngest children. Her ex husband, Peter Cook, seemed like a royal scumbag. He was having an affair with an 18 year-old girl he hired to work at his architecture firm and was blowing thousands of dollars a month on online porn. This was Christie’s fourth marriage and all three of her children are from different husbands, so it would seem that if she’s guilty of anything it’s piss poor taste in men.

After the divorce was finalized, Cook went on 20/20 and whined to Barbara Walters that he cheated because his wife wasn’t giving him enough ego-stroking. Brinkley then filed for a restraining order to keep her children away from Cook, claiming he violated the confidentiality clause of his $2.1 million divorce settlement by going on 20/20 and by showing footage of their children, Sailor Lee, 11, and Jack, 14. (Jack is from Brinkley’s third marriage, to Richard Taubman. He was adopted by Cook.)

Nearly a year later and Cook is still trying to get back at Christie for not letting him see his kids. A 40 page affidavit from a former nanny who worked for Christie way back in 1994 when she was divorcing her second husband, Billy Joel, has come to light. Cook doesn’t exactly take responsibility for leaking the document, but it seems like he’s the one responsible.

Cook and Brinkley have officially reached a settlement, but he’s continued to charge that she’s trying to turn their children – their daughter, Sailor, and Brinkley’s son with Rick Taubman, Jack – against him.

That’s why Cook is cheered by the delivery of some fresh dirt on Christie, courtesy of Alzirene Vianna, who looked after Billy and Christie’s daughter, Alexa Ray, from June 1993 to December 1994.

In 1995, when Billy and Christie were still dealing with matrimonial issues, Vianna gave Billy’s lawyers an affidavit, which we’ve obtained.

Vianna alleges in the never-aired 40-page statement that:

“Christie never encouraged Alexa to call Billy” and told Vianna to eavesdrop on phone conversations Alexa had with Billy. When Vianna took Alexa for a visit with Billy, Christie told Vianna to let her know if Billy was drinking again. “I want you to spy for me,” Vianna quotes Christie as saying.

After Christie had left Billy for handsome Colorado businessman Taubman, she was packing her bags for Telluride when Alexa, then age 8, started “acting up.” “Christie told her in a very harsh tone that if she wanted to come with her to Colorado … she would have to stop behaving like this, because she didn’t want Alexa to ruin her relationship with Ricky.”

It wasn’t long before Christie and Rick were getting into arguments: “Ricky would … kick furniture and slam doors.” Once, while staying at a hotel in California, Rick wouldn’t let Christie into their room. “Christie started pounding on the door and kicking it … Rick later told Christie: ‘No wonder Billy left you; who can live with you?’”
Once, while Rick was getting into a car outside their house, “Christie opened a window, threw something and said, ‘[Bleep] you, you ass-!’”

People began to talk about “Christie’s addiction to prescription drugs.” Said Vianna: “I remember going to the pharmacy every day in East Hampton to get several prescriptions filled for [Christie].”

Christie wouldn’t grant Alexa’s wish for Billy to come to school events. Alexa sobbed when she said goodbye to Billy after a visit and “seemed to withdraw.”

Gary Smith, a spokesman for Cook, says Vianna’s tales of “parental alienation and interference … unfortunately continue to this date and come as no surprise to Mr. Cook.”

Claire Mercuri, who represents Billy and Alexa, says, “These accusations are false and unfounded.”

Brinkley’s lawyer, Loren Plotkin, calls Vianna a “disgruntled employee,” adding: “Christie Brinkley denies these baseless, false and malicious allegations. … One must question the motive of the individual who dredged up this document as nothing more than a shameful, transparent and ultimately fruitless attempt to hurt Christie and her family.”

[From The NY Daily News]

Peter Cook is such a dirtbag and he’s digging up whatever he can to try and make it seem as if Christie is turning his kids against him. I don’t know what’s going on with his visitation, but he made his filthy bed and those kids belong with their mom. Even Billy Joel and Alexa deny this story by a nanny who worked for them for all of 18 months. It’s telling that this 15 year-old document is the best dirt that Cook can dig up on Brinkley, because even if all these claims are true they’re not that damning.

Christie Brinkley is shown with her daughter, Alexa Ray Joel, on 6/17/09. Credit: WENN.com

Christie Brinkley’s ex-husband Peter Cook seems to think it’s really important for him to salvage his name – even though the guy has so little self-awareness that he doesn’t realize every word out of his mouth only makes his situation worse. The online porn addict/real life adulterer gave an interview to 20/20 that will air this Friday. In it, Cook tries to blame every single martial problem on Brinkley, and instead of looking better just looks like a simpering fool. Brinkley fired back at Cook’s comments later that day and has since applied for a restraining order to keep Cook away from their children.

Christie Brinkley has filed a request for a temporary restraining order and a motion for post-judgment relief again her ex-husband Peter Cook, a Suffolk County, N.Y., official confirms to PEOPLE. The motion was filed Wednesday – two days before Cook’s revealing interview with ABC’s Barbara Walters is set to air.

Cook, 49, who has admitted to having an affair with an 18-year-old assistant and an online pornography habit, told Walters during his interview for Friday night’s 20/20 broadcast, “I’m not the … pervert that I’ve been painted to be.” The restraining order would prevent Cook from seeing his children and is not to keep him away from Brinkley, a source close to Cook tells PEOPLE.

“She’s upset because the kids are seen in footage during the 20/20 interview,” the source says. Cook last saw the children when they had dinner on Wednesday night, and they are scheduled to be together this weekend, the source says. Brinkley and Cook halted their messy divorce trial in July when both parties announced a settlement deal. The judge in the case, Mark Cohen, signed their final divorce decree Sept. 29.

The new motion is on the court calendar for Oct. 29, but the court official said it’s unclear at this point whether the parties will actually appear in court or if their lawyers will simply submit statements to the judge in writing.

[From People]

So Cook and Brinkley were officially divorced on September 29th. That means within a week of everything being over and done with, Cook had violated the confidentiality agreement that was part of their divorce settlement. Wow, that really does sound like a trustworthy, upstanding guy.

I think he’s just a narcissist and is incapable of handling people thinking he’s anything less than absolute perfection. He needed his ego stroked by his wife and his 18-year-old girlfriend, and now he’s aware that the general public thinks he’s slime. All that matters to Cook is doing whatever it takes to let him think everyone else admires him again; otherwise his entire ego will crumble. Considering it only took a week for him to mess up, it sounds like Brinkley and Cook’s custody issues will go on for a long, long time.

Here’s Christie with daughter Alexa Ray Joel (her oldest child with ex-husband Billy Joel) at the Save Sag Harbor benefit in New York on August 30th. Images thanks to WENN.

Christie Brinkley’s ex-husband Peter Cook decided to defend himself by giving a “pity me” interview to Barbara Walters. Unfortunately it didn’t go so well for Cook, as he just came off as a whiney, pathetic guy who can’t handle people seeing him for who he really is. He did all this despite having signed a confidentiality agreement as part of his divorce proceedings.

Brinkley fired back, but in a dignified and appropriate manner. Once again it’s clear who has all the class and who has none in this situation.

Supermodel Christie Brinkley faced a highly publicized divorce from her husband Peter Cook three months ago — now she’s re-arming to fight Cook’s claims about their nasty split.

“Extra” has obtained a statement from Brinkley’s attorney, Robert Stephan Cohen, on behalf of the supermodel. It reads: “It is a measure of Peter Cook’s character that he has breached the confidentiality agreement that is in the divorce settlement and has sought to present this distorted one sided view of his marriage. Mr. Cook had his days in court, testified on his own behalf and ultimately agreed with the view of the children’s court appointed attorney and psychiatrist that the children should live principally with their mother and that she should be the sole custodial parent.”

Cook, who was blasted in court for an online sex addiction and an affair with his teenage assistant, insists he’s been unfairly labeled. “I’m not the pervert that I’ve been painted to be,” Cook tells Barbara Walters in a “20/20″ interview. “The misinformation that came out during the trial is the elephant in the room. It’s the elephant in the room for my kids.”

[From Extra]

That man is so full of bullshit I’m surprised it’s not leaking out of his ears. I feel sorry for their children in this situation, but it seems like Cook is almost jealous of the empathy they’re getting. Brinkley was even gracious enough to say she felt sorry for the 18-year-old girl Cook slept with, pointing out that she was taken advantage of. And it didn’t sound like PR bull, it seems like she really meant it. It takes a pretty forgiving nature to feel that way, even towards a young girl who might not have enough experience to fully understand the ramifications of her behavior.

All in all it’s clear who deserves to be publicly chastised in this situation – and telling everyone how hard he had it being married to Christie Brinkley isn’t going to help him out any.

Here’s Christie and Peter at the “Boogie Nights” premiere in the beginning of their marriage. Header of Christie at the opening night of The Metropolitan Opera on September 22. Images thanks to Bauer-Griffin.

Peter Cook, Christie Brinkley and their children on 2/4/05. Credit: Steve Sands/Bauergriffin

Peter Cook, Christie Brinkley’s disgraced ex husband, appears on an upcoming episode of 20/20 in which he’s interviewed by Barbara Walters. Walters showed clips of the show on The View this morning, and Cook pretty much comes across as the total creep you expect him to.

It came out during the public divorce proceedings this summer that Cook, 49, was spending thousands of dollars a month on online porn, was into webcam sex, and had an affair with an 18 year-old girl he hired to work in his architectural firm. When the affair went sour, Cook paid the girl $300,000 to keep quiet. Yet it was Brinkley, 54, who paid the bills for the household.

After all the dirt about Cook came up, the two reached a settlement, with Cook receiving $2.1 million and visitation rights to his two children, Sailor Lee, 10, and Jack, 13. Brinkley retained all 15 of her properties. Brinkley was the one who fought to make the divorce public and she received some criticism for that due to her children being exposed to the details of their father’s massive indiscretions. It was also her fourth failed marriage, as the other side so often pointed out. Despite all that she came across as a devoted mom with blinders on who only wanted the best for her children.

Cook told Barbara Walters in that interview to air Friday that it was his wife’s fault that he cheated, though, because she just didn’t give him the ego-stroking that he so desperately needed.

Cook told Walters why he started an affair with the young woman in 2005, when he had a great marriage in 2004.

“I was seeking a connection I could not find in my own marriage,” he said. “I think the emotional aspect of our lives had changed. I think we were both feeling more like we were living with a brother and sister than a life partner. … I think I just suddenly realized when I was getting attention from someone else that this is something that is missing in my life.”

When asked what he wanted, Cook said, “I wanted a little acknowledgement, a little attention, a little thank you every now and then for my efforts, for the amount of time I took to care for her and my family, for the wealth I was building. Just the tremendous amount of work I was putting into my family. … My world became her world. It had to be that way. … There came a time when I pulled up [to] the driveway to the home that I found, that I built, that I lived in, and I felt like I was a guest in someone else’s life.”

Cook said that he agreed to be interviewed to try to “correct some of the wrongs.”

“My hope is that the world will see that I’m not the scum bag pervert that I’ve been painted to be,” he said. “The misinformation that came out during the trial is the elephant in the room. It’s the elephant in the room for my kids. And I’m hoping maybe if I can correct some of the wrongs.”

[From Abcnews.com]

What an asshole this guy is. It’s the typical “my wife doesn’t pay attention to me” bullshit. Instead of getting some young ass, you’re supposed to work on your relationship by giving your wife some attention and romance. This guy was having an affair with a woman 30 years younger who worked for him. He has no excuse.

Here’s a link to the video from The View. The interview starts at about 1:57 in. There is some mildly funny banter ahead of it where the women talk about webcam mast*rbation. And here’s another clip on Abcnews.com.

Now that the three-ring circus better known as the Christie Brinkley divorce is over, you’d think that the former supermodel would be able to move on and find a way to effectively co-parent with her ex, Peter Cook. Creep though he is, the guy is still father to one of her children, and that’s not changing. However, sources say that when Christie ran into her ex at a benefit concert in the Hamptons, she hightailed it out of there.

It was an ex-couple collision for Christie Brinkley and Peter Cook when the two had a close call at a Hamptons dance party this weekend!

Christie was hoping for a good time at the Jonas Brothers bash benefiting Ross School in East Hampton, but she ended up in uncomfortable proximity to her cheating ex — who also attended the intimate show. As 650 fans screamed — and Christie rocked out with son Jack — Peter walked around with daughter Sailor.

When Christie got wind of chatter about her porny ex being in the same place — she quickly headed for the door!

[From ExtraTV.com]

Here is my problem with this: if Christie was alone, or with a date, I could see why she’d want to get the heck out of there. But both of them were with one of their kids. The two siblings can’t enjoy a concert together because their parents can’t get along- and that’s sad. I know the divorce is still very new, and there are a lot of bad feelings in this situation, but there are children to think about. Christie should take comfort in the fact that she publicly humiliated this clown and leave it at that.

Christie Brinkley and Peter Cook are shown below with their kids in 2004. Credit: Anthony G. Moore / PR Photos. Christie is shown in the header at “The Hamptons Classic Horse Show in Bridge Hampton” on 9/3/07. Credit: MLM/Fame Pictures

After the way her last marriage went, you can’t really blame Christie Brinkley for being turned off by the institution. And after a total of four marriages, the model now claims she will never marry again. Which is probably for the best. While the court-ordered psychiatrist said she was healthy and sane, and that her anger at ex-husband Peter Cook was to be expected – he also said she needs to work on her “choice of male figures.”

“I’m not going to marry again,” the model, 54, told the New York Post hours after her trial ended Thursday. “I know too much about the marriage laws and divorce laws. Getting married again would not be a very intelligent thing to do.”

At her trial, a court-appointed psychologist said Brinkley “needs to start working on deeper issues,” including “her choice of male figures.” Still, she says airing her dirty laundry at the public trial was worth it. “I’ve got my sweet freedom!” said the model, who retained sole custody of her kids and will keep all 18 properties in the Hamptons that were being disputed. (She agreed to pay the 49-year-old Cook $2.1 million.)

“I was fighting for my family,” Brinkley said. “I think when you’re fighting for your family’s well-being, almost anything you have to go through is worth it.” She kept a sense of humor when asked if she were glad the ordeal was over. “I was down to my last outfit!” she cracked. “It had to end.”

[From Us Magazine]

Christie gets to keep all of her 16 Long Island properties – which cook wanted, arguing that while she paid for them, he helped pick them out. And of the $2.1 million he was awarded, sources say the vast majority of it will go to his legal bills.

Here’s Christie Brinkley outside the courthouse in Long Island with a school project she completed with her son Jack that was entered into evidence. Images thanks to Splash.

Christie Brinkley and Peter Cook campaign for John Kerry on 2/28/04, thanks to HRC/WENN
Christie Brinkley and Peter Cook have reached a settlement in their divorce ahead of what could have been another explosive day of testimony in open court. The couple and their lawyers worked late into the night at a hotel on Long Island hashing out the details. Christie will have sole custody of the children. Cook received a $2.1 million settlement and visitation rights to his children Sailor Lee, 10, and Jack, 13. Jack is from Christie’s last marriage but was adopted by Cook.

Cook will see the kids every Wednesday and alternate weekends along with alternate weeks in the summer. Christie Brinkley will get to keep all of her whopping 18 properties in the Hamptons. [Details from US Weekly]

Brinkley fought to have the details of her divorce made public. She learned a few things about her husband’s behavior during the 10 years they were actively married. Cook had a rampant porn addiction, seduced an 18 year old girl he hired to work at his architecture firm, and dealt cocaine in the 1980s.

A psychologist provided an assessment of Cook for the court which called him a “narcissist” who “needs constant reassurance that he is a terrific guy, handsome, accomplished, etc.”

Brinkley testified that she worked hard to make a wonderful life for her children and was baffled that her husband seek out sex with strangers online and have an affair when he had “beautiful, loving children” at home.

TMZ reports that two detectives were due to testify in court today about Cook and that he may have been anxious to ensure that whatever they knew about him was not made public.

It looks like Brinkley’s strategy of making the proceedings public worked in her favor. Whether it was the best thing for her kids or not remains to be seen. They’ll get to be with their mom, their dad hasn’t been cut out of their lives, and things are finally settled for their family.

Christie Brinkley had another day on the stand in her divorce trial yesterday. She testified how hard she works to have an ideal family life, saying she loves baking birthday cakes, planning holidays and activities with the children. She claimed that family is “the only thing I’ve ever wanted” and “the most important thing – to have a big, happy family.”

Brinkley has daughter Alexa, 20, with ex Billy Joel, and son Jack, 13, with her husband before Cook, Richard Taubman, and daughter Sailor Lee, 10, with Cook. Cook adopted Jack in 1996 after he married Brinkley. She has plenty of help at home, and has had a nanny, cook, gardener, and a woman to do the laundry. She still spends a lot of time with her children, and testified that she always puts them first before her career.

Her lawyer entered into evidence a dinosaur diorama she built with Jack for his science class “complete with a volcano and flying raptors.” [Details from AP]

She also said she routinely snowboards with son Jack and loves preparing for Christmas. Cook’s lawyer shot back at her, saying she wasn’t the supermom she portrayed and that she accomplishes it all with a lot of paid help:

For Christmas, her $30 million Bridgehampton mansion was transformed into a “wonderland.” She made her own birthday cakes, jumped on a snowboard with son Jack, 12, stocked her home with disaster relief kits and always penciled Jack and daughter Sailor, 10, into her calendar before modeling shoots, she said in Central Islip.

But just as Brinkley was making the case for being the better parent for her two children on her second day on the witness stand, her estranged husband’s attorney dismissed her mothering skills as those of a superboss who relied on the help of a sizable staff.

“Are you trying to tell us that during this period, you were kind of a one-man band, doing everything?” asked Peter Cook’s lawyer, Norman Sherseky of Manhattan.

“I would say that I put in a very busy day,” Brinkley, 54, shot back, conceding that Cook doted on his kids in the marriage’s early years. She told her lawyer during direct examination: “Every nanny that I have knows that it’s a household where the mother is present, that they are more like a mother’s helper.”

[From Newsday]

There’s a revealing editorial in the NY Daily News that question’s Brinkley’s portrayal of herself as a marytred power mom, betrayed by her husband as she sacrificed everything for her kids. Author Jo Piazza says you can see how their marriage unraveled. Cook must have actively worked to pull down the perfection his wife tried so hard to build:

Brinkley detailed just what a domestic goddess she truly is. How she is a stay-at-home mom, completely devoted to her children and her family.

She is so devoted that since her split from Cook, her fourth husband, she has sworn off men. For the kids’ sake, of course.

Devoted isn’t even a strong enough word. Brinkley might actually be Supermom.

After seeing a story on the news about how a child had died of heart failure because there was no defibrillator in the house, she bought one for the family home and a spare one for the house of Peter Cook’s parents … just in case.

After 9/11, she bought all manner of protective gear, including enough gas masks for every member of their household – and even some of the neighbors…

Yes, it may seem over the top, but a good parent does anything he or she can to try to protect the kids. And Brinkley had the means to do that.

She swam and surfed and skied and sailed with them. When daughter Sailor Lee took up tap-dancing, she bought herself and son Jack pairs of tap shoes so they could all tap together.

And, oh, the Christmas parties! Each year, Brinkley put her all into throwing a Christmas carol singfest.

She would meticulously type up the lyrics to all the songs and pass them out as her ex-husband Billy Joel played the piano and everyone had a gay old time.

Well, everyone except for probably Cook.

Brinkley says he scowled his way through the last Christmas the pair spent together before “the betrayal.” That’s how she refers to Cook’s infidelity with teen lover Diana Bianchi and his love of Internet pornography.

Peter Cook is obviously a flawed man. The novelty of having a beautiful wife must wear off when she is the one wearing the perfectly tailored pants all the time.

Having to deal with Brinkley’s perfection and the gleaming life she built for them must have been difficult. He got destructive and to make himself feel better about playing second fiddle, had to destroy her idyllic world.

[From NY Daily News]

There’s no excuse for what he did. If there were problems in their relationship he could have tried to work on them with his wife instead of escaping into porn and carrying on an affair with a teenager. She’s painting a rosy picture of her life with the kids, and considering what her husband did she certainly seems like the parent who should get primary custody. She admits that her life revolves around her children, however and it’s easy to see that there was little or no room for Cook. That in no way justifies his abhorrent behavior.

Brinkley said she hasn’t dated since her marriage dissolved, and that “I’ve just been completely focused getting the kids over this painful event. I think it would inappropriate because I think the kids have been though a lot of changes.”

As for her husband’s motivations, she finds it baffling and cites their children together as motivation for staying faithful: “I mean, sneaking out of the house when you’ve got beautiful, loving children there, to go choose instead to masturbate on the World Wide Web, just makes me worry about his judgment.” [Quotes from the NY Post]

Cook’s lawyer notes the many times Brinkley publicly praised her estranged husband as a good father, and say that she’s working to cut him out of his children’s lives.

It is thought that an alleged girlfriend of Cook’s, interior designer Bridget Nisivoccia, 36, might be called to testify in the divorce. She maintains her relationship with Cook is only professional, although there is speculation that they had a relationship after he and Brinkley were separated.

Photo credit: Christie Brinkley and Peter Cook are shown outside of court yesterday, thanks to Lisa Wagner at Splash News