"Shattered" Brinkley Takes Stand in Divorce Trial

Model says she was devastated after confronting husband; friend said she had to be hospitalized from grief

Dealing with the fallout of her husband's betrayal didn't feel like a death to just Christie Brinkley, it felt like one to her friends, too.

The erstwhile cover girl took the stand during the second day of testimony in her public divorce trial from philandering architect Peter Cook Thursday, testifying as to her confrontation with Cook and subsequent reaction after learning of his affair with an 18-year-old staffer.

"I just said to Peter, 'How could you?' " she said on the stand, making her testimony all the more poignant by choosing that moment to look at Cook head-on for the first time in the two-day trial.

Brinkley further testified that she learned of her husband's affair with Diana Bianchi from the teen's police officer stepfather, Brian Platt. He had informed Brinkley of her husband's infidelity moments before she was to speak at a local school—an incident she referred to as "the day my world was completely shattered."

"I turned to look at Peter," she said. "His face was so tense...He was saying, 'No.' I thought, 'Oh my god. It's true. He did it.' I knew from his face. It explained the feelings I'd been trying not to feel."

When she further confronted Cook with the man's claims, Brinkley said he asked her, "You're not going to believe that man over me, are you?"

Brinkley said the couple's now 10-year-old son was with them at the time and that she "saw little Jack's face looking at his dad, the man and me. I thought, I am going to pass out."

At that point, she asked Cook to take her home so as not to break down in public. After they arrived, she quickly left again on her own.

"I was just in shock," she said. "I just started driving away from my perfect life. I thought I had the picket fence. We were happy."

In addition to the shock of it all, Brinkley said her initial reaction was "to get to the bottom of this. I need to know."

Prior to Brinkley taking the stand at Central Islip Supreme Court, her close friend and Today entertainment correspondent Jill Rappaport testified to Brinkley's depressed state following the June 25, 2006, argument that led to the disintegration of the couple's marriage.

Rappaport said she found Brinkley pulled over on the side of a public road.

"When I got there, Christie was lying on the ground huddled over with her hands on her knees. I thought she had died," Rappaport said. "She was sobbing...almost catatonic. I grabbed her by the shoulders, and she said, 'Can you believe this? Please tell me this is a nightmare.' "

Later, Brinkley also addressed Cook's witness stand confession that he spent $3,000 per month on pay Internet porn sites during their 10-year marriage.

"I found conversations of him trying to lure girls, saying he would take them shopping, saying he would pay them if he could see their face.

"I felt really stupid. Why didn't I know? Why wasn't I aware of this? I felt humiliated. I felt shattered. I just felt grief-stricken."

Brinkley said she confronted Cook about her findings and "he said it was an abberation, something he was only into now because of the guys in the office."

During a recess, Cook belittled Brinkley's tearful testimony, "Shrek was more believable," he quipped, per Newsday.

Roughly 30 witnesses are expected to take the stand in the case, which will run about four weeks.

The first day of testimony yesterday featured Brinkley's daughter with Billy Joel, Alexa Ray Joel, as well as Bianchi and Cook, who did his fair share of bawling during his time on the stand.

(Originally published July 3, 2008 at 10:30 a.m. PT.)