”We had Alexa together and we knew that was going to bind us together for life so we wanted to make our divorce work,” Christie said in The Wendy Williams Show and added:
”Of course as you’re going through it, you know, you can get a little bit raw, but you cannot find him saying a bad word about me or me saying a bad word about him, no matter what happens.”
But her union with Peter Cook ended up in a messy divorce and custody battle. In 2006, the couple declared that they were going to separate.
The split ended in a bitter battle in the Long Island courthouse, closely monitored by the TV news and every New York tabloid.
A lot of details emerged. For example, Cook had an affair with a teenager come to light. In 2004, Cook had met a woman named Diana Bianchi in a local toy store when he was buying gifts for his kids. Diana was fresh out of high school, and Cook made a pass at her.
He hired her as an assistant at his firm, and they began a months-long affair. Christie’s husband paid his 18-year-old assistant $300,000 to keep quiet and bought her a lot of expensive gifts.
Christie found out when Bianchi’s stepfather, a police officer, confronted her. Cook “begged for forgiveness” but the fashion model and mother of three was ”in payback mode,” according to Los Angeles Times.
In 2008, Christie and Cook reached a divorce settlement. Just months before it became public, Cook did an interview with Barbara Walters where he explained his view on the marriage.
Basically, he blamed Christie.
“I wanted a little acknowledgment, a little attention, a little thank-you every now and then for my efforts, for the amount of time I took to care for her and my family, for the wealth I was building…,” he said.
According to the divorce settlement, Christie gained full custody of the children and the couple’s properties. Cook had a financial payment of $2.1 million and ”parenting time.”
”I din’t want this trial. It’s humiliating for all of us,” Christie said.
”I lived like a gypsy my whole life and this wasn’t supposed to be my house for this long – it was a holding station – but then it turned into this amazing place to raise a family,” she says.
The National Lampoon’s Vacation star often shares pictures of her home, the beautiful surroundings, and when her kids come for a visit.
Plastic surgery
As you can imagine, she’s a very active 68-year-old.
”I like to exercise so I am always able to move and go with the flow, and I like to eat foods that are healthy so I am fueling my body and I must say, usually I am the one still going when people younger than me are fading!” she said in an interview with Hello Magazine.
