NEW YORK, July 17 (UPI) -- The teenager in the middle of Christie Brinkley's divorce was as much a victim of Peter Cook as his supermodel wife, her lawyer told the New York Post.
Diana Bianchi "was a victim of this guy who preyed on her naivete, her immaturity, the fact that she's 19," Bianchi's lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, told the Post.
Cook, 47, met the teenager last summer, made her his assistant at his architectural firm, gave her a car and the financial means to move out of her parents' home, Tacopina said.
He also promised to dump his 52-year-old wife to be with her, Tacopina said.
The young woman's stepfather was the one who tipped off Brinkley to the affair, sources told the Post.
Tacopina said he was retained by Bianchi's family because she is expected to become embroiled in their multimillion-dollar divorce battle and, he hinted, possibly her own legal action against Cook.
"The issue here is what this guy has done to her. I think the harm will be irreparable," Tacopina told the Post.
