With the Christie Brinkley and Peter Cook divorce case set to go to trial on Wednesday, a lawyer for a woman who Cook had a “very friendly relationship” with last year has criticized the supermodel for taking her to court to testify against Cook.

Carri Lyn Ciamarra is currently scheduled to take the stand July 10, but her attorney, Anthony Mangone, says he’s attempting to stop her from testifying, because she and Cook did not become close until after he and Brinkley were already legally separated.

“This is nothing more than a jilted woman trying to ruin someone else’s family,” Mangone told PEOPLE. “We feel her testimony is unnecessary and irrelevant to the current proceedings.”

Ciamarra, a 31-year-old fitness model from Cortlandt Manor, N.Y., saw Cook for seven months last year, says Mangone, who confirms his client is currently married and mother to a young son.

For her part, Ciamarra issued the following statement through her attorney: “I first came to know Peter Cook in February 2007 after meeting him in New York City. The nature of that relationship is a private matter.”

Asked whether Cook and Ciamarra were indeed dating last year, Mangone replied, “She maintained a very friendly relationship with Peter Cook from February 2007 to August 2007 … She’s a private citizen, and it’s not fair to explain what type of relationship it was.”

Although Mangone criticized Brinkley, the attorney did not paint her estranged architect husband as an innocent victim.

“He’s got some credibility issues, and I’m not trying to gauge what kind of relationship they had or who decided to end it,” said Mangone. “The press has done a good job in exposing who he is.”

He added that his client has no desire to be used as a pawn in court. “They might expect her to sit and cower in the courtroom. She’s not going to sit down and die for these people, and it’s a shame she’s being dragged into this mess.”

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WENN

Christie Brinkley’s daughter with rocker Billy Joel is proud of her model mother for making her divorce battle with Peter Cook public.

Brinkley, 54, is due to fight estranged husband Cook in a New York court on Wednesday, when their divorce goes to trial.

She filed for a legal separation in 2006, over his alleged affair with a then-18-year-old assistant.

According to reports, among Brinkley’s divorce allegations are claims that Cook trawled the internet for women and porn.

The beauty, who has kids Jack, 12, and Sailor, nine with Cook, has been criticized by her ex and their children’s guardian Theresa Mari for making their divorce proceedings open to the press – but Alexa Ray Joel, 22, has praised her mom’s efforts.

She tells People magazine, “She’s standing up for herself. I think that is admirable. There’s such overwhelming support for her.”

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WENN

Christie Brinkley’s estranged husband Peter Cook agreed to pay his former teenage lover $300,000 to persuade her to keep the details of their affair private, according to reports.

The supermodel and Cook are in the midst of a bitter divorce battle after the pair split amid rumors he had an affair with his 18-year-old assistant Diane Bianchi.

And Cook reportedly gave Bianchi a lump sum in a bid to keep her quiet about their torrid affair, as well as preventing her from filing a sexual harassment suit against him, reports People.com.

It is known the pair settled out of court last year, but the sum has been previously reported as undisclosed.

A source tells People.com, “Peter settled because he wanted to his children left out of it. That’s the difference between them – he wants the children left out of it and (Brinkley) wants the kids in it.”

However, details of the affair and forthcoming divorce proceedings will not be kept private – after the former supermodel won a the right to keep the proceedings open to the public in a motion filed last week.

Brinkley’s lawyers will reportedly call Bianchi to the witness stand in the divorce case.

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WENN

Cover Girl Christie Brinkley leaving a medical building in Beverly Hills in good spirits in L.A., March 24th.

And check out that cute purse!

WENN

Adam Sandler

Christie Brinkley and Kelly Ripa

Mary-Kate Olsen

Renee Zellweger

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Christie Brinkley’s architect husband, Peter Cook, has publicly apologized to his estranged wife following revelations that he’d had a year-long affair with a teenage girl.

“I love my wife. I have loved her since the day I met her. Please … I love her,” Cook told New York Post columnist Cindy Adams via his lawyer, Norman Sheresky. “For a lifetime, I’ve tried to prove how much I love her. This is an aberration. I’m sorry. I’m contrite. I’m stupid. Foolish. No excuse.”

Asked about divorce plans, Sheresky said, “There is no divorce proceeding that is proceeding. Christie Brinkley has not sued her husband.” Cook, he said, “hopes there’s no divorce. If she wants one – and he certainly hopes this doesn’t happen, but if – it will not be nasty. She can have whatever she wants.”

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