Impact of trial's sex revelations on Cook's career?

BY ALFONSO A. CASTILLO | alfonso.castillo@newsday.com

July 9, 2008

If former President Bill Clinton could remain a respected figure even after testifying about having phone sex with a White House intern, then Peter Cook need not worry too much about what will become of his professional life after the salacious revelations of his divorce trial, a prominent divorce lawyer said yesterday.

"His business is going to do great. There's now a cachet about him," said Manhattan divorce lawyer to the stars Raoul Felder, who counts Rudy Giuliani among his former clients.

Felder said that despite the revelations about the East End architect having a $3,000-a-month Internet pornography habit and cheating on his wife, Christie Brinkley, with a young toy store clerk, Cook could thrive professionally. There is no shortage of Hamptonites who would love to brag, "Peter Cook designed my house," he said.

"It's got to add at least two percent to the value" to the home, Felder said. "There is a component of people who will never shake hands with him again without washing their hands, but they are more than made up for by people who want to get connected to celebrities."

In addition to Clinton, Felder listed Woody Allen, Marv Albert and Mike Tyson as examples of celebrities who withstood airing of their dirty laundry.

But not everyone subscribes to the adage about all publicity being good publicity. Manhattan divorce attorney Alton Abramowitz, vice president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, said that unlike numerous celebrities who survived damning personal revelations relatively unscathed, Cook's only real fame comes from his marriage to the former supermodel. Clients may want nothing to do with his baggage.

"It could basically destroy his entire professional career," said Abramowitz, who likened Cook more to disgraced Idaho U.S. Sen. Larry Craig than to any celebrity. "Builders probably may not want to work with him ... Construction people may feel that they're going to be tainted by being associated with him."

Initial peer reaction wasn't judgmental. Ann LoMonte, executive director of the Long Island chapter of the American Architectural Institute, said Cook remains "an upstanding member."

"I'm certainly not one to judge," LoMonte said.