Christie Brinkley‘s ex-husband Peter Cook is engaged to marry 21-year-old Alba Jancou, Page Six has exclusively learned. The 60-year-old popped the question to the college co-ed, last month in Santorini, Greece.
Despite the 40-year age gap, Cook calls blonde Jancou his “soulmate.” He commented on the engagement after dating for a year: “We consider ourselves incredibly lucky to have found, in each other, our soulmate. We are looking forward to many years of wedded bliss!” He proposed with a six-carat diamond ring in front of a church on Sept. 15.
Page Six first reported over the summer that the pair were dating and had started to appear at society events in the Hamptons together — and that Jancou is the same age as his 21-year-old daughter with Brinkley, Sailor Brinkley Cook, who was just eliminated from ABC’s “Dancing With The Stars” and appeared alongside her mother in the 2018 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.
CHRISTIE BRINKLEY’S DAUGHTER SAILOR WAS ‘TERRIFIED’ OF JOINING ‘DANCING WITH THE STARS’
A source said of Cook and Jancou: “They originally met two years ago at Le Bilboquet, but didn’t start dating until a year ago. They are planning a destination wedding in Europe.” In photos of the engagement, snapped by Ioannis Pananakis, the couple is seen dressed in all white in front of the Santorini backdrop admiring her ring created by jewelry designer Glenn Bradford.
CHRISTIE BRINKLEY OPENS UP ABOUT ‘DWTS’ INJURY IN EMOTIONAL INTERVIEW
We’re told the bride-to-be, a psychology student in New York, is “Swiss, French and English” and “attended a prestigious English private boarding school,” called Millfield. Her parents are prominent New York art gallerists, her mom is Tanya Bonakdar, 53, and her father is Marc Jancou, who is 51-years-old, according to public records.
The couple once had a gallery together, but have since divorced and now run their own individual businesses. According to his website, Jancou, who owns a gallery on Orchard Street, opened his first gallery in 1991. Bonakdar has a space on West 21st Street and another in Los Angeles, which is currently showing artist Ernesto Neto.
Hamptons architect Cook certainly seems to have a type. He and Brinkley, 65, split in 2006 when he was caught having an affair with his 18-year-old office clerk Diana Bianchi. His second ex, Suzanne Shaw, now her 40s, accused him of having a “secret pathological predilection” for young women. They divorced in 2014 after two years of marriage.
This article originally appeared in Page Six
