Psychiatrist: Brinkley should get the kids, not Cook

BY LUIS PEREZ | luis.perez@newsday.com

8:41 PM EDT, July 8, 2008

Give her the kids. Get them shrinks.

That was the clinical assessment of the psychiatrist who testified in the divorce trial of Christie Brinkley and Peter Cook Tuesday.

After four days of testimony that began Wednesday and pored over details of Cook's affair with an 18-year-old and his $3,000-a-month Internet pornography habit, as well as the former Sports Illustrated model's iron fist in her home and supposed plot for revenge against her husband, it was the clinical jargon of the soft-spoken and bearded doctor that once again dropped jaws in the Central Islip courtroom.

"Mr. Cook is characterologically a narcissist," said Dr. Stephen Herman of Manhattan, who was appointed by the court to analyze Brinkley, Cook and their two children, Sailor, 10, and Jack, 13. "While most people need a feeding for their egos, Mr. Cook has an insatiable appetite."

While stopping short of saying that Cook, a Sag Harbor architect, was a bad father, Herman said Cook most likely endangered his children if they were exposed to his pornography or illicit relationships.

Cook has admitted on the stand that Jack inadvertently stumbled upon images of a naked woman on a home computer while doing homework.

When Cook initiated sex with teenager Diana Bianchi, "that choice was the beginning of the end of the marriage," Herman testified.

Herman's words likely will play a major role in acting State Supreme Court Justice Mark D. Cohen's decision on who gets custody of Jack and Sailor, experts said.

The couple, each seeking full custody, now swap weekends with their children. Adopted by Cook, Jack is Brinkley's son with her third husband, Peter Taubman. Herman said the "only viable option" was for Brinkley to live with the children and for Cook to have some access.

But the doctor also spread the pain.

"I think each person has their own strengths and weaknesses. Someone could raise a question about the mother's marriages, and their not working out," Herman said when probed by one of Brinkley's lawyers, Howard Roy, about which parent better portrayed "healthy attitudes."

Brinkley has been married four times. Her second marriage was to singer Billy Joel, with whom she had a daughter, Alexa Ray Joel, 22.

Herman also noted that Jack and Sailor, whom Brinkley has sent to summer camps during the trial, will need their own counseling.

The trial of her divorce from Cook is closely monitored every day by a swarm of television and tabloid newspaper reporters.

One of them asked if she had advice for Cynthia Rodriguez, who filed for divorce from Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez on Monday. Brinkley suggested her own attorney, Robert S. Cohen, quipping: "Hire Bob."