Supermodel Stephanie Seymour has been in the business of being beautiful since her days as a Victoria's Secret model in the late '80s and '90s. But her current role as a divorcing Connecticut housewife is far from pretty. Seymour and her estranged husband, billionaire paper mill mogul Peter Brant, appeared at a state Superior Court in Stamford on Monday for a pre-trial hearing. This bitter and dramatic divorce is not unlike those seen by the toughest family lawyers in Pasadena.
The hearing was the result of a Seymour missing a mandatory drug test while she was vacationing in St. Bart's with her two children. The model was in danger of being held in contempt of court for missing the drug test and could be slapped with a "no alcohol" ruling by the judge depending on those results. Both Seymour and Brant took the stand to discuss custody rights but each revealed a fierce battle for loyalty from nannies and other staff members.
Brant claims that Seymour violated court orders by letting the children stay with nannies, friends and relatives instead of asking him first. What's more, Brant accused Seymour of intimidating their nannies and forcing them to take her side. Seymour, on the other hand, says that Brant used staff members as spies. Cora Driv, a babysitter for the family, took note of household activities and reported the details back to Brant. Driv allegedly quit working in Seymour's household only to resurface as an employee of Brant's a short time later.
All the finger pointing and cloak-and-dagger in this case boils down to one thing: money. Last fall, Brant was ordered by a court to fork over $270,000 a month to Seymour in child support and alimony. Brant, according to divorce records, pulled in a staggering $1.5 million a month in 2009. Stephanie Seymour and Peter Brant were married in 1995; Seymour filed for divorce last year.