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Christie Brinkley’s romantic journey has been marked by adversity, from the tragic loss of boyfriend Olivier Chandon de Brailles in a race car accident in the ’80s to surviving a helicopter crash with her future husband Richard Taubman in April 1996. Alongside these dramatic events, the renowned “Sports Illustrated” model has also endured the usual challenges of romantic relationships, including the end of her fourth and final marriage amidst a cheating scandal.
Introduced by journalist Jill Rappaport, Brinkley got engaged to Peter Cook in August 1996, and they tied the knot a month later. Their union appeared strong for a decade, with Cook even formally adopting Brinkley’s son, Jack, in 1997, a year before welcoming their daughter Sailor.
However, in 2006, their world crumbled when Brinkley discovered Cook’s extramarital affair with a 19-year-old assistant. This revelation led to their separation in July of that year, as reported by ABC News. Brinkley described this period as profoundly devastating.
The affair came to light when Diana Bianchi, who was just 17 when she met Cook, spoke out. She revealed that Cook had made inappropriate advances shortly after she began working at his architectural firm. Brinkley’s divorce from Cook was finalized in 2008, and both moved forward from the painful chapter. Cook has since remarried, indicating that his attraction to significantly younger women was not an isolated incident.
In September 2023, Peter Cook wed Alba Jancou in an intimate ceremony in Capri, Italy. At the time, Jancou, a 24-year-old real estate agent from New Hampton, had been engaged to Christie Brinkley’s ex-husband since September 2019 when Cook proposed during a Greek vacation. Jancou, in addition to her real estate work, holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from The New School in New York.
Jancou’s upbringing spanned New York and Europe, attending school in Somerset, England, and spending considerable time in Gstaad, Switzerland. Her parents, Tanya Bonakdar and Marc Jancou, are prominent figures in the New York art scene, both running their own galleries. Despite Cook initially stating she was 21, it was revealed that Jancou was actually 20 at the time of their engagement. This raised some controversy, as she was a year younger than Cook’s daughter, Sailor Brinkley Cook. Sailor’s reaction to this development remains undisclosed.
While Sailor’s attendance at the wedding is uncertain, it appears she spent that weekend with her mother and sister Alexa Joel, as suggested by Christie Brinkley’s Instagram post.