Christie Brinkley and Peter Cook finally agree on something — they each think the other should be behind bars.
A year after their vicious divorce battle, the supermodel and her philandering ex bared their fangs in a Long Island courtroom yesterday hurling charges and counter charges of violating terms of their settlement.
Lawyers for the Hamptons-fantasy-couple-turned-marital-catastrophe huddled with Judge Mark Cohen in Riverhead in an 11th-hour attempt to avoid a new legal slugfest. They were unsuccessful and Round 2 is scheduled to begin Tuesday.
Cook, who detonated the marriage with his affair with teenage toy store clerk Diana Bianchi, claims Brinkley is trying to sabotage his relationship with their kids, Sailor and Jack.
He claimed Brinkley failed to hand over Jack’s passport in time for him to go on a school trip to Egypt chaperoned by his dad. That, he said, caused the boy to miss the trip.
“She is doing everything she can to ruin my relationship with my kids,” Cook complained. “I am trying to move on with my life and I wish she would do the same.”
Cook’s lawyers presented a slew of demands yesterday, including Brinkley’s imprisonment, additional child visitation for their client, and anger management classes for the supermodel.
“Peter Cook’s claim that Ms. Brinkley refused to turn over her son’s passport is without merit and totally disingenuous,” said Brinkley’s new lawyer, Peter Caronia.
He said Brinkley was a few hours late providing the passport because her friend’s mom died and Cook refused to pick it up from her Bridgehampton home.
Brinkley counters that Cook violated their divorce settlement by hitting the talk show circuit and by allowing his current girlfriend, Suzanne Shaw, to spend time with their kids on the boat the couple once shared.
Caronia blamed Cook for dragging the couple back into the spotlight by initiating the latest go-around and said his client was compelled to bring up her own complaints as a result.
“We’re here because Peter Cook filed what we believe is a frivolous application to the court,” he said. “What Christie Brinkley wants is what’s best for her children. She wants to get this resolved fairly and get it all behind her.”
Brinkley also is calling for Cook’s jailing as well as the reimbursement of legal fees and the sale of the boat they used during their marriage, “Sweet Freedom.”
While both sides acknowledge that prison time is unlikely, the mere mention of the slammer drew a few gasps in court.
Wearing a dark suit and blue tie and with his trademark blond coif, Cook calmly read a book while the lawyers wrangled behind closed doors.
Outfitted in a gray skirt, gray cardigan and black heels, an upbeat Brinkley huddled with three chattering girlfriends just a few tension-filled feet away.
Judge Cohen held out hope a new trial can be avoided with a last-minute deal.