What is Christie Brinkley’s net worth in 2025? Fortune explored as American model reveals husband’s affair in her memoir 

Model Christie Brinkley candidly recounts the time she found about her husband’s affair.

The model and former wife of Billy Joel, Christie Brinkley, released her new memoir Uptown Girl, and she did not shy away from talking about the nitty gritty of her career and relationships.

In the book, which chronicles her life, she also reveals the devastating moment that ‘nearly broke her.’ Brinkley talked about how her ex-husband, Peter Cook, was having an affair.

According to Celebrity Net Worth, the CoverGirl model has amassed a net worth of $100 million over the course of her career, and not just from modelling but through real estate investments over the decades. She has a record-breaking 25-year contract with CoverGirl, and along with that, appeared on three consecutive covers of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, Vogue, Newsweek, Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Rolling Stone, US, and more. But that's not all, as she accumulated her wealth with a multitude of businesses including Bellissima Prosecco, Christie Brinkley Authentic Skin Care, and Christie Brinkley Eyewear.

Christie Brinkley's ex-husband's affair

Christie was married to the architect from 1996 to 2008, until the model found out that Cook had cheated on her with an 18-year-old. In the July 18 cover story for Social Life Magazine, she emotionally expressed:

"There were parts where I thought, 'Please, don't cry. I tried to keep (my voice) level, but (the publisher) let me be. Let my voice crack. Let it show."

She recounted how, after giving a commencement speech at Southampton High School in 2006, she was approached by a man who told her:

"That arrogant husband of yours has been having an affair with my teenage daughter, and he won't knock it off."

The moment is imprinted in her mind, especially since her son Jack, whom she shares with ex-husband Richard Taubman, witnessed the interaction.

"Jack's face was frozen in panic. He felt it instantly," Brinkley told the magazine. "He knew something was very wrong."

The girl's father was a cop, whom she accompanied to the police station after the ceremony, feeling extremely exposed.

"I know from Peter’s face that he was guilty," Christie Brinkley said. "When your whole world falls apart, and you realize in a heartbeat you’ve suddenly become the cliché middle-aged woman whose husband is having an affair with a much (much) younger woman, what do you do?"

After that, she mentioned in her books how she searched his computers.

"I was good at guessing passwords, and soon enough, a panoply of frightening email exchanges, incriminating photos, and porn accounts populated the screen like fireworks. It was so insane that it was almost funny, and soon enough, the three of us were doubled over in laughter, as printouts of girls in X-rated poses began piling up on the floor faster than trash outside a greasy takeaway."

Though Christie Brinkley suffered this life-changing ordeal, she still has an optimistic view of love and relationships.

"I just feel like my life is so full of love," Brinkley told Fox News in an April interview. "If there's a romantic love that comes along as well, it would be wonderful. But I also feel very content and happy with the life that I have right now, and I consider my life to be very full of love."

Christie Brinkley and Peter Cook's split resulted in a six-year court battle; the couple also share a 27-year-old Sailor Lee Brinkley Cook.

×

Was this article helpful?

Thank You for feedback