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New York Post
21-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Christie Brinkley details devastating moment that ‘nearly broke' her: ‘Something was very wrong'
When Christie Brinkley found out that her husband was having an affair, it 'nearly broke her.' The veteran Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model is on the cover of Social Life Magazine in celebration of her memoir, 'Uptown Girl,' which came out earlier this year. The 71-year-old spoke to the outlet about what it was like sharing her story, both the highs and lows. 'There were parts where I thought, 'Please don't cry,'' said Brinkley when it came to reading her story out loud for the audiobook. 'I tried to keep [my voice] level, but [the publisher] let me be. Let my voice crack. Let it show.' One of the moments Brinkley described in the book was discovering how her fourth husband, architect Peter Cook, was unfaithful after eight years of marriage. According to the outlet, Brinkley was at a graduation ceremony in 2006 to give a commencement speech. She described how a man approached her with a revelation that had the 'weight of a wrecking ball, delivered in barely a whisper.' 'I asked him to repeat it,' she recalled before turning to look at Cook. 'And then I looked at Jack,' she said about her son. 'Jack's face was frozen in panic. He felt it instantly. He knew something was very wrong.' 4 Christie Brinkley at the Sports Illustrated Swim Issue Launch Party held at the Hard Rock Hotel on May 16, 2024 in New York, New York. WWD via Getty Images According to Brinkley, she looked out into the crowd. She saw 'mouths agape,' reminding her of 'The Scream' oil painting. 'They all knew,' the outlet shared. 'Maybe some judged. Maybe some didn't. But in that suspended moment, she felt faint, exposed… like the floor might drop beneath her.' Brinkley said she asked the man if he had a card. 4 Alexa Ray Joel and Brinkley attend the SASF Sweet 16th Unconditional Love Gala on July 19, 2025 in Bridgehampton, New York. Getty Images 'No,' he said. 'But I'm a cop at the Southampton station.' After the ceremony, Jack rushed over to his mother and asked what was wrong. She told him, 'Mommy needs to go to the police station.' There, she would get more information about how her marriage was unraveling. Brinkley told the outlet that she didn't know what readers would expect from her book. 'I had thought this book might sit on shelves,' she admitted. 'I worried it would embarrass my kids. But people bought it. They loved it. I cried.' In her book, Brinkley describes how the police officer who made the revelation was the father of the 18-year-old Cook was involved with. 4 Brinkley was married to her fourth husband, Peter Cook, from 1996 to 2008. Djamilla Rosa Cochran 'I know from Peter's face that he was guilty,' Brinkley wrote. 'When your whole world falls apart, and you realize 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?' That night, Cook was out of the house. And friends urged Brinkley to search the family computer. They even came over to help, an operation Brinkley said looked like something out of 'Charlie's Angels.' There, she found a 'creepy labyrinth of files and photos I never knew existed.' 'I was good at guessing passwords, and soon enough, a panoply of frightening email exchanges, incriminating photos, and porn accounts populated the screen like fireworks,' Brinkley wrote. 'It was so insane that it was almost funny, and soon enough, the three of us were doubled over in laughter, as printouts of girls in X-rated poses began piling up on the floor faster than trash outside a greasy takeaway.' 4 The veteran Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model is on the cover of Social Life Magazine in celebration of her memoir, 'Uptown Girl,' which came out earlier this year. Getty Images Brinkley and Cook's split resulted in a six-year court battle. Social Life Magazine reported that the divorce trial was 'tabloid catnip and a full-blown media spectacle.' It was also 'a mother fighting to protect her cubs.' Today, Brinkley told the outlet she finds solace tending to her garden, just like another famous blonde. 'I admire Pamela [Anderson],' Brinkley told Social Life about the 'Baywatch' icon. 'I think we were both misread. Different myths were built around each of us, and now we've found the freedom to say what was always ours. We're not salon blondes. We're hands-in-the-dirt women. We bloom in the garden.' Brinkley previously told Fox News Digital she dares to love again. 'I find that love is the strongest thing in the whole world, and we are surrounded by love,' she said. 'There are so many kinds of love and love for our friends, love for our families, love for nature and love for people that protect nature. I love love – I feel like my life is so full of love.' 'I think if there's a romantic love that comes along, it would be wonderful,' she shared. 'But I also feel very content and happy with the life that I have right now. I consider my life to be very full of love.'
USA Today
20-07-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Christie Brinkley on Peter Cook affair, making of emotional memoir: 'Please don't cry'
For Christie Brinkley, owning your truth is no bed of roses. The model and former wife of Billy Joel, who got candid on her life and career in the new memoir "Uptown Girl," reflected on the making of the emotional book in a July 18 cover story for Social Life Magazine. The book, which chronicles Brinkley's early modeling days and her tumultuous romances with Joel and ex-husband Peter Cook, is accompanied by an audiobook narrated by the Sports Illustrated alum herself. "There were parts where I thought, 'Please, don't cry,'" Brinkley, 71, told the magazine. "I tried to keep (my voice) level, but (the publisher) let me be. Let my voice crack. Let it show." Christie Brinkley memoir revelations: Model talks Billy Joel marriage, Peter Cook affair Brinkley was married to Cook, an architect, from 1996 to 2008. The pair's relationship unraveled after Brinkley discovered Cook had cheated on her with an 18-year-old. The former couple shares a daughter, 27-year-old Sailor Lee Brinkley Cook. Christie Brinkley recalls Peter Cook affair, son's reaction In "Uptown Girl," Brinkley writes that she learned about Cook's affair while giving a commencement speech at Southampton High School in 2006. After her speech, a man reportedly approached her and said: "That arrogant husband of yours has been having an affair with my teenage daughter, and he won't knock it off." Brinkley's son Jack, whom she shares with ex-husband and real estate developer Richard Taubman, was in attendance at the graduation ceremony and allegedly observed the tense interaction. "Jack's face was frozen in panic. He felt it instantly," Brinkley told Social Life Magazine. "He knew something was very wrong." Brinkley told her son, then 11, that she needed to go to the police station, where the man who informed her of the affair worked, to assist "a girl who needed her help." It took four years before Brinkley and Cook concluded their media-frenzied court battle over custody of their kids. 10 bingeable memoirs to check out: Celebrities tell all about aging, marriage and Beyoncé Despite her marital woes, Brinkley remains optimistic about love, telling Fox News in an April interview that "love is the strongest thing in the whole world." "I just feel like my life is so full of love," Brinkley told the outlet. "If there's a romantic love that comes along as well, it would be wonderful. But I also feel very content and happy with the life that I have right now, and I consider my life to be very full of love." Contributing: Clare Mulroy, USA TODAY
