Christie Brinkley’s ex-husband Peter Cook doesn’t regret marrying the former model - despite their bitter and public divorce.

The former couple last week agreed a settlement, after a week-long court trial under the full gaze of the world’s media.

A court-appointed psychiatrist has advised Brinkley to undergo therapy to help her deal with her anger towards Cook - and she has sworn off marrying ever again.

But Cook - who cheated on Brinkley with his 18-year-old assistant - insists he takes positives away from their marriage, telling the New York Post, “I’ll never regret marrying her. We had a great time for 10 years. I’ve got two beautiful children.”

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The twin private investigators who helped model Christie Brinkley reach a settlement in her divorce trial insist their evidence would have ruined her ex-husband Peter Cook.

After five court days of testimony in Long Island, New York court, the bitter former couple reached an agreement on Thursday morning.

And private investigators Ty and Stephen Dux are convinced the “smoking gun” facts they were about to present to the case prompted Cook and his legal team to give Brinkley full custody of the couple’s children, Sailor and Jack.

In a frank interview with Extra, the Dux twins reveal they spent a year trailing Cook, videotaping him with and without his children.

Ty Dux says, “The footage is not of sexual nature… (It’s) more information that would have been damaging to him with his relationship to his children and possibly his community. Some of his actions might have been a little reckless with his kids that could have caused them some harm. Some of it could be considered illegal.”

Dux adds the videotaped footage of Cook was going to be introduced as evidence in the trial.

He adds, “I believe he had had enough already.”

And now he insists the footage will not be made public: “It would have been bombshell evidence… (but) even if we were allowed to release the information… I don’t know if I’d want to because I believe he’s ruined already.”

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WENN

After days of acrimony in court and a night of intense negotiation going into the wee hours of the morning, Christie Brinkley and Peter Cook settled their contentious divorce case.

“It is my pleasure to report to the court that with much hard work … we reached an agreement,” Brinkley’s lawyer Robert Cohen said in Suffolk County Supreme Court in Central Islip.

After Judge Mark Cohen signed off on the deal and Cook left the courtroom, Brinkley hugged two friends and sobbed quietly.

“It’s to me a very bittersweet moment because it really is the death of a marriage,” Brinkley said later, outside the courtroom. “I’m very pleased with the results today. I was here fighting for custody.”

She held an elaborate dinosaur diorama she had helped her son make for a science class that had been used as evidence at the trial.

“It’s everything I asked for,” Cook said as he walked quickly away from the building.

The hard-fought deal’s main sticking point - custody of the couple’s two children, Jack, 10, and Sailor, 13 - was resolved with Brinkley getting sole custody and final decision-making power over the children.

Cook is allowed visitation and will be consulted regarding decisions about the children.

Brinkley retained ownership of all real estate holdings and her boat Sweet Freedom. She agreed to pay Cook a flat amount of $2.1 million, mainly to cover his legal costs. The rest of the terms remain confidential, the pairs’ attorneys said.

The marathon negotiating session to end their 10-year marriage was held at a Marriott hotel in Islandia and finally ended at 6 a.m. Both sides appeared relieved to have the ugly trial concluded.

The settlement comes after five days of all-out war in the courtroom, where a string of witnesses, including Brinkley, 54, and Cook, 49, painted the model’s husband as a narcissistic horndog who slept with a teenage employee and had a $3,000-a-month Internet porn habit.

When asked why they didn’t settle sooner, Brinkley - wearing a pink, brown and tan skirt, pink sweater over a white blouse and designer high-heel open-toed shoes - said she didn’t “have a choice.”

“I was trying to settle the day I learned about - you know - about the absolute truth, the facts. I wanted to settle but, unfortunately we could not reach an agreement until 6 a.m. this morning,” she said.

Cohen said that after days of bruising testimony, Cook realized that settling was a wiser option.

“Most of you heard what went on in that courtroom - I think it was pretty clear where this case was going and so it was resolved,” he said.

At the center of the trial - where custody of the couple’s two children was at stake along with her considerable assets - was the affair Cook had with Diana Bianchi, a teenager he hired as an assistant for his architecture firm and paid $300,000 for her silence.

Then, two days ago, a court-appointed psychiatrist deemed Cook a self-obsessed egomaniac, and said Brinkley should have primary custody of the children.

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Christie Brinkley has such bad taste in men, she should get her head examined.

That’s what a court-appointed shrink seemed to say when he recommended that the supermodel - who’s been married four times - go into therapy.

“She needs to start working on therapy issues relating to her parenting…maybe her choice of male figures…certain motivations that she had herself that can get her into trouble,” psychiatrist Stephen Herman testified.

Brinkley, 54, is locked in a divorce battle with fourth hubby, Peter Cook, 49.

She’s also married and divorced three other men, artist Jean-François Allaux, singer Billy Joel and developer Ricky Taubman.

Under cross-examination, she admitted she isn’t anxious to hop onto the couch.

“I’m not sure that I’m a huge fan of psychotherapy. I think there’s lots and lots of ways to deal with various issues,” she said.

“But if Dr. Herman feels strongly about it, I would do whatever it takes to convince the court that I’m willing to make whatever changes they deem necessary.”

Herman’s report took both parents to task - Brinkley for her lingering fury over Cook’s betrayal and Cook for being a narcissist with sexual issues.

After interviewing the couple and the kids, Herman concluded that Brinkley should get custody because Cook has displayed “poor judgment.”

He cited Cook’s 35 sexual partners, a two-hour-a-day Internet porn habit and his “impulsive, self-destuctive, possibly compulsive” affair with teenage Diana Bianchi.

The fling was a “family disaster” that caused “irreparable harm” to the children - 13-year-old Jack and 10-year-old Sailor Lee, the psychiatrist said.

“I think there were some problems before,” Herman told the court. “Certainly taking that step, making that choice was the beginning of the end of the marriage.”

He also described Cook as a self-absorbed egotist.

“He needs constant reassurance that he is a terrific guy, handsome, accomplished etc.,” his report to the court said.

“Where most people need some quiet ‘feeding’ with their egos, Mr. Cook has an insatiable appetite.”

Asked whether the couple could have joint custody of the kids - which is what Cook wants - Herman was unequivocal.

“It is not a viable option,” he said.

Nevertheless, he said the children and Cook have a “very close bond” - and Brinkley needs to accept that, Herman said.

“It would be important for the sake of the children that Miss Brinkley let go of this,” his report said.

While Brinkley’s anger is “understandable,” Herman noted that she is “blinkered by her disgust with and for Mr. Cook” and lets the children know how she feels.

As an example of Brinkley’s uncontrolled fury, Cook’s camp accused Brinkley of scratching his face from photos in front of the children.

The cover girl denied it, saying she blacked out his face from a single wedding photo and put it in a private dresser in a closet a few weeks after she learned of his infidelity.

“I felt like he was an invisible man,” she explained. “Just his outfit remained, standing next to me, like an empty wedding outfit with no person with it

“And that’s how I felt - the person that I knew and loved, I didn’t know where he went.”

Cook lawyer Norman Sheresky asked her: “Did you ever say to Jack, ‘Ask your dad to tell you about his whores?’” Brinkley said she had not.

“Did you ever scream at Peter?” Sheresky asked.

“You bet,” Brinkley shot back.

“Around the children?” he pressed.

“No sir, not that I’m aware of,” she said.

Sheresky repeatedly tried to get her to admit she was angry, but Brinkley refused.

“I don’t think that’s really the portrait of a woman enraged and consumed in anger,” she said of Herman’s report. “I believe that the portrait of a mother trying to give some sense of normalcy to some children whose world has been destroyed by this man’s greed and lust.”

Sheresky was annoyed by her long-winded answers.

“No matter what I ask her, she makes a speech,” he complained to the judge.

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WENN

Christie Brinkley has been forced to admit she praised estranged husband Peter Cook’s parenting skills during their marriage.

The star was cross-examined by Cook’s attorney, Norman Sheresky, when she took the stand at a New York court during their ongoing divorce trial on Monday.

She was asked to read from various interviews she had given to the media during the couple’s 11-year marriage, where she was quoted applauding Cook’s skills as a father.

The catwalk beauty quoted her own words from a 2005 interview, calling Cook “the greatest father”.

She also read from her 2006 interview with Good Housekeeping magazine, adding: “Peter is our rock… He’s the calm in the middle of our storm.” She also recalled how Cook was “the first one to jump out of bed in the middle of the night” if there was a problem with the kids, in a 1999 interview in Redbook magazine.

Brinkley admitted she was partially insincere during the interviews, telling Judge Mark Cohen: “I would just say that early on, I meant it wholeheartedly. By the end, I meant it partially.”

The trial continues.

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WENN

Looking radiant as she walked into New York’s Suffolk County Supreme Court Monday for the third day of her divorce trial, Christie Brinkley told reporters, “I hope everyone had a happy 4th. I am looking forward to my Independence Day.”

Asked if whether she’s optimistic she’ll get custody of son Jack, 13, and daughter Sailor, 10, the supermodel said, “Oh, yes.”

Moments later, her estranged husband Peter Cook arrived, looking subdued and largely ignoring the press horde.

Brinkley is expected to remain on the stand all of Monday as the divorce trial enters its custody phase. Earlier in the day, she revealed in court how she initially told her children that their father would probably not return home.

She said that she broke the news to them shortly after she had confirmed his affair with Diana Bianchi.

“I said sometimes in marriage one person falls out of love. I think Daddy’s fallen out of love with me,” Brinkley said in a clear voice, adding that she had also discovered some of Cook’s Internet porn at this time.

Daughter’s Strong Reaction
After Brinkley broke the news to Jack and Sailor, she says their daughter had an immediate and strong reaction: “Sailor was upset by that and immediately went to call her Dad and give him a piece of her mind for falling out of love with their mother.”

Brinkley testified that Cook adopted Jack when the boy was 4. Asked if his biological father, developer Richard Taubman, was ever involved in Jack’s rearing, Brinkley testified, “No, never.”

Asked later if Peter ever paid for Jack’s schooling, Brinkley testified, “I paid for all the children’s expenses.” She told the court “he never offered to pay for tuition or anything.”

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WENN

Christie Brinkley is seeking comfort from her ex Billy Joel after a stressful week in her ongoing divorce trial with estranged husband Peter Cook.

The star’s high-drama divorce proceedings kicked off in New York on July 2nd, and the battle has proved to be emotionally draining for the 54-year-old - especially when she was forced to recall the moment she learned about Cook’s affair with an 18-year-old in 2006.

But, over the Independence Day holiday on Friday, Brinkley “seemed good” as she celebrated with second husband Joel and their daughter Alexa at the singer’s home in Sag Harbor, New York, according to People.com.

A pal tells the publication: “She was hugging the kids there, they were all laughing and eating. They seemed really relaxed.”

Meanwhile, Cook spent the day on his boat with girlfriend Suzanne Shaw and 13-year-old adopted son Jack, Brinkley’s child with former husband Richard Taubman.

An onlooker says, “He seemed fine, relaxed.”

Brinkley and Joel divorced in August 1994, after almost 10 years of marriage.

The divorce hearing is due to continue on Monday.

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WENN