After six days of bloody war, harmony descended on divorce court Wednesday- with Peter Cook following his estranged wife’s lead in sporting peace-symbol jewelry.
Peter Cook wore the delicate peace-sign cufflinks to the Suffolk County courthouse battleground where he and Christie Brinkley – who has been donning peace-sign earrings and Om necklaces – broke bread and talked cease-fire and settlement.
Brinkley extended an olive branch to Cook with a direct call to his cellphone Wednesday as their lawyers haggled over a possible deal, a source with knowledge of the case said.
The bombshell blonde, who has been wearing the peaceful-thought-inducing Buddhist pendant, offered to stop contesting Cook’s current visitation schedule with their two children, Jack, 13 and Sailor, 10.
Brinkley, 54, said the hostilities being publicly aired in the Central Islip courtroom needed to end for the sake of the children, according to the source.
But, Cook – who’d been bloodied unremittingly by revelations of his pornography obsession, Web cam masturbation and methodical seduction of a teenaged office assistant – flatly turned her down.
He said it was his wife of 10 years who damaged the kids by insisting that the trial be open to the press, the source said.
The source added the architect and amateur yachtsman was bolstered by Tuesday’s testimony from a court-appointed psychiatrist who determined Brinkley needs therapy because of her lousy matrimonial track record and continuing anger over the dissolution of her fourth marriage.
Cook, 49, rejected the current arrangement of having the kids on every Wednesday and every other Thursday. Instead, he demanded that Brinkley also give him Thursdays in the deal, which would allow him to play single daddy to the two kids for five straight days at a time. He currently gets the kids every other weekend.
Cook also wanted a bigger share of the couple’s assets, but it’s unclear if he would claim Tower Hill – their 20-acre estate that boasts a giant peace sign on the gate.
That was apparently too much of a concession for Brinkley.
She returned to the courtroom at 3 p.m. grim-faced and subdued. There were no more smiles or poses for the camera.
Another source said Brinkley was horrified that news outlets carried huge stories on the court-appointed shrink’s recommendation that she get psychiatric help. Attorneys for both sides declined to comment.
And, Cook was still publicly on the offensive.
“Marriage is a partnership. If you are not a partner, it will fail,” Cook quipped to a reporter when asked about Brinkley’s four failed marriages.
Even so, the enemies seemed to have lost some of their stomach for combat. Both sides were puffing on a peace pipe last night at an area hotel in an attempt to finally forge a treaty. A total settlement could be announced as early as today.
Any deal could help Cook’s thinning wallet. A source said Wednesday he has shelled out about $1 million in legal fees since splitting with Brinkley in June 2006.
While settlement talk was all the buzz outside the courtroom, inside, two of Brinkley’s agents testified that the cover girl always put her kids before any modeling gigs.
“It all revolves around her children’s schedule. Her children come first and work is second,” said Cathy Quinn, the “director of celebrities” at Ford Models, who has been Brinkley’s modeling agent for 13 years.
The agent said Brinkley turned down two offers to appear in French Vogue this year so she could stay at home with the kids.
Additional reporting by Braden Keil and Luke Dennehy