The mental health expert has spoken: a court-appointed
psychiatrist testified Tuesday in the
What Dr. Stephen Herman of Manhattan, appointed by the court to analyze Christie Brinkley, Peter Cook and their two young children, had to say in court Tuesday, July 8, ultimately did not favor either parent in particular.
Herman said Peter Cook is “a narcissist” and that he has “an insatiable appetite” to have his ego fed, reports the Associated Press. He added that the architect “needs constant reassurance that he is a terrific guy.”
Of the former Sports Illustrated model, Herman said she needs therapy as “an outlet for her anger and feeling of betrayal” by her unfaithful husband and questioned “her choice of male figures” and her repeated failed marriages.
Peter Cook became the fourth husband of Christie Brinkley in 1996. The couple has a 10-year-old daughter, Sailor; Cook has also adopted the former model’s 13-year-old son, Jack, from her marriage to Richard Taubman. Christie Brinkley is mother to a third child from her marriage to Billy Joel, 22-year-old Alexa Ray Joel.
Both estranged spouses are seeking full custody of Sailor and Jack. They currently swap weekends with their children. Herman said in court that the “only viable option” was for Brinkley to live with the children and for Cook to be involved in their lives.
Christie Brinkley filed for divorce after a decade of marriage when her husband’s extra-marital affair with his then-teenage assistant became a tabloid scandal. The first part of the divorce trial focused on Peter Cook’s infidelity and his online porn habit.
The 49-year-old architect has admitted and apologized for both faults.
Herman noted Tuesday that there probably were “some problems” before Peter Cook’s affair with his assistant and that “certainly,” initiating that relationship “was the beginning of the end of the marriage.”
The psychiatrist also said the two children will need counseling.
Christie Brinkley later told the court that while she may not be “a huge fan of psychotherapy,” she was willing to do anything, “whatever it takes to convince the court,” to receive custody of Sailor and Jack.