(Splash News)
It’s not cheap being a supermodel mommy!
Glamorous cover girl Linda Evangelista came to Manhattan Family Court yesterday — and slapped her deadbeat billionaire French baby-daddy with a $46,000-a-month support request.
“That would probably be the largest support order in the history of the Family Court,” noted Support Magistrate Matthew Troy, who is expected to decide on an amount when the parties return to Family Court next month.
The demure but towering Evangelista, still stunning at 46, is demanding the cash from Francois-Henri Pinault — CEO of the Paris-based luxury conglomerate that owns Gucci, Yves St. Laurent and Bottega Veneta — who is the father of her 4 year old, Augustin James, to whom he has not paid a penny since the boy’s birth.
Pinault is married to Salma Hayek, with whom he has another child of nearly identical age — 3-year-old Valentina.
While Pinault lavishes Valentina with luxuries — he even spends $50,000 a month for a $12 million Los Angeles estate held in trust in the girl’s name — Evangelista has been saddled with the entire cost of caring for and protecting little Augie, complained the model’s lawyer, William Beslow.
“He’s just been sitting back, paying zero,” Beslow told the magistrate yesterday.
The majority of the monthly sum Evangelista is requesting would cover the round-the-clock nannies and gun-toting drivers that are simply the due of any son of a single mom and an overseas billionaire, her lawyer argued yesterday. But Pinault, whose family is worth an estimated $11.5 billion, is fighting the expenditures tooth and nail.
During a lengthy deposition last Tuesday, Pinault’s lawyer grilled her on just why she needs a team of heat-packing drivers who are former police detectives — at a whopping cost of $175,000 a year.
Evangelista also wants $80,000 a year for a nanny, Pinault lawyer David Aronson complained to the judge yesterday.
“She testified that she wants to have a 24-hour nanny because she does not want to be alone with the child . . . Miss Evangelista, you should understand, has a worth of more than $8 million, and she earned, last year, $1.8 million.”
The judge immediately scratched out the $7,500 Evangelista was seeking for monthly “vacation” expenses, but ultimately seemed very sympathetic to the security and nanny costs, noting that these may simply be prudent expenditures for raising a high-profile, high-risk Manhattan scion.
“These are the extraordinary expenses that may be a part of the child’s life,” the judge said. “And if there is a trial [in the support case] with a lot of publicity, there will probably be a need for two detectives to drive this kid around.”
It’s understandable, too, for Evangelista to want another adult — a nanny — to be on hand given her security concerns and travel requirements of her job, the judge said.
“How many hours a week do you work?” the judge asked the model at one point.
“On days when I do not work, I am working on my image,” Evangelista answered, her voice soft, and tinged with defensiveness. “I have to hit the gym. I have beauty appointments. I have to work toward my next job and maintaining my image,” she said, “just like an athlete.”
“When I work, it can be a 16-hour day,” she added.
Both lawyers and Evangelista declined comment after the proceeding.