NEW YORK — The bitter and heated divorce battle between Christie Brinkley and Peter Cook has come to an end.
According to People magazine, the two sides reached a settlement early Thursday morning at 6:15 a.m., following a long night of negotiations.
The 54-year-old former "Sports Illustrated" model will receive sole custody of the ex-couple's two children, Jack, 13, and Sailor, 10, in addition to keeping their real estate assets.
As part of the deal, Brinkley has agreed to pay the 49-year-old Cook $2.1 million.
Brinkley and Cook announced their split in July 2006 after 10 years of marriage. Cook's admitted affair with a teenage lover, Diana Bianchi, sparked the falling out.
The explosive trial began last week, with Cook taking the stand for some embarrassing testimony. He revealed that his affair with Bianchi began in March 2005 after he met her at a toy store earlier in the year. Bianchi was paid $20,000 to type magazine articles onto his company's Web site and their affair began soon after she was hired. Cook also admitted to leaving her occasional cash payments, including one time when he left her $500 underneath a rock.
Cook and Bianchi had sex in the office and at homes owned by Brinkley before the affair ended later the same year.
Brinkley said she found out about the affair from Bianchi's stepfather, Brian Platt, who approached her after she spoke at a Southampton High School graduation in June 2006.
"That husband of yours won't knock it off. He's having an affair with my teenage daughter," Brinkley testified Platt saying, according to the Associated Press.
When she confronted Cook moments later, Brinkley said she knew her worse fears were a reality based on his reaction.
"My God, it's true. He did do that," she testified.
Details of Cook's interest in Internet porn were also revealed during the five-day long trial, a habit that amounted to $3,000 a month. After discovering the affair, Brinkley said she asked for Cook's computer passwords, which led to her finding e-mails from Bianchi and several porn sites that he had visited.
"It was not a voyeur site. It was a meeting site," Brinkley said, according to AP. "It was more than I could bear."
Prior to the Bianchi scandal, Brinkley said the couple's biggest problem was Cook's relationship with Alexa Ray Joel, the "Vacation" star's daughter with singer Billy Joel, whom she married in 1985 and divorced in 1994.
Last week, Alexa Joel testified that Cook once punished her by shoving her head into a bucket of water, a claim that the architect denied.
"You married me and my children," Brinkley said she would tell Cook about his struggles with Alexa Joel. "You've got to find a way to love Alexa."
When asked by reporters at the end of yesterday's hearing if a settlement was in the works, Brinkley said, "It's what I hope and pray for."
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