Victoria's Secret supermodel Stephanie Seymour should trade in her lingerie for a full set of body armor. She needs it to defend herself from soon-to-be ex-husband, billionaire Peter Brant. Seymour is suing the polo player for divorce in a bucolic Connecticut courthouse, and he has already come out swinging. Although the former Sports Illustrated cover girl started the court proceedings, Brant started the battle. And the writing is on the court house wall -- Brant won't be fighting fair.
Brant, who did jail time in the nineties for tax evasion, already has the reputation of being a ruthless hothead, both on and off the polo field. Now he has turned his venom toward his wife. Before the first shots were even fired in court this earlier this month, the Supermodel came home to find Brant changed all the locks on the doors of their Greenwich mansion. He then forced her to sleep in the maid's quarters. Foreshadowing a likely child custody skirmish, Brant shocked Seymour by allegedly trying to block her from picking up their daughter at school. Could this divorce be shaping up as a version of Beauty and the Beast?
At 62 years old, one would think that Brant, although a spoiled baby boomer, had learned by now the virtues of decorum and gentlemanly reserve. But apparently this hubby wants nothing more than to make the mother of his three children miserable, sucker punching her every chance he gets.
I say be prepared for him to take cheap shots by resurrecting Seymour's notorious past. The runway model dated rockers and admittedly dabbled in drug use. But that was at least 15 years ago, before she and Brant married. Nonetheless, Brant is demanding that his wife undergo drug and alcohol testing. This is the red flag for an upcoming lethal legal strategy. Nothing like setting the stage for a possible "bad mother/drug abuser" allegation to gain leverage in a child custody dispute. In divorce court, it's the billionaire tactic de jure, used to get a wife to back down on other issues -- like how little money she's willing to take to go away quietly in exchange for the kids.
This former Connecticut divorce lawyer's advice to Ms. Seymour: Make sure your divorce lawyer is the toughest, most vicious pit bull around -- and have him sink his teeth into Peter Brant's leg. You had an early preview of how this battle is going to shake down, and it's not going to be pretty. Especially, when you have a husband who is not an example of model behavior.