Christie Brinkley is finally sharing the painful moment she discovered her then-husband Peter Cook was having an affair with a teenage girl—a revelation that rocked her world and led to a bitter, high-profile divorce.
In her new memoir, Uptown Girl, the iconic supermodel recounts the shocking incident that exposed Cook’s infidelity. Brinkley, now 71, was delivering a graduation speech at a high school in the Hamptons in 2006 when a stranger approached her with devastating news.
“‘Excuse me,’ he said softly,” Brinkley writes. “‘I need to tell you that arrogant husband of yours has been having an affair with my teenage daughter.’”
Caught completely off guard, Brinkley froze on stage, stunned by the accusation. As she scanned the audience, her eyes met Cook’s, who was seated next to their son Jack—his adopted child. “Peter’s eyes were already trained on my face, as he began shaking his head, ‘No,’” she recalled.
In Uptown Girl, Christie Brinkley reflects on becoming the “cliché middle-aged woman” whose husband had a much younger mistress. She and Cook, now 66, separated soon after, ending their 10-year marriage, during which they also welcomed daughter Sailor, now 26.
The couple’s breakup triggered a contentious court battle over child custody, leaving Brinkley questioning the value of their prenuptial agreement.
“I kept saying, I don’t understand—what good was a prenup?” she writes. “It was exhausting and scary. I always lived in fear of them taking my kids, because that was the constant threat.”
Their divorce was finalized in 2010, with a judge urging them to resolve custody disputes for the sake of their children.
Brinkley, who also shares daughter Alexa Ray, 39, with ex-husband Billy Joel, admits there were moments she doubted whether she’d recover from the betrayal. But she leaned on her family for strength.
“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.”
Christie Brinkley’s memoir Uptown Girl, which offers intimate insight into her life, heartbreak, and resilience, is now available wherever books are sold.
