After nearly two years of scandalous press headlines, Monday in Middleton, Conn., the Peter M. Brant vs. Stephanie Seymour divorce proceedings will finally begin.
It’s been a bitter ride lately, a far cry from 16 years ago when the newsprint and art tycoon married the young Victoria’s Secret angel.
Brant and his lawyer use her history of rehab for Vicodin, reported alcohol use, and lavish spending to brand her as an unfit parent. He’s cited an incident when she took their three children to Vegas and left them with family while she visited with her boyfriend Lance Maerov.
Seymour claims he tries to turn her children against her, using their nannies and other help as reinforcements toward this goal.
For the past 13 months both of them have been court ordered to undergo drug testing. This August Brant tried to get out of drug testing because he claimed to be “clean as a whistle,” but the judge denied his request.
He is a deal maker who found early success in the stock market, took over the family newsprint business, and spent his life voraciously procuring lucrative art like Warhols and Basquiat. He even produced the acclaimed film biopics of Basquiat and Jackson Pollock.
All the deals have made him a prosperous man; his net worth was around $1.4 billion in 2007. But the implosion of the print industry, the economy, and his marriage have taken a good billion out of his pocket. During recent court proceedings his new net worth is valued at mere $498 million.
Of course, since there was no prenup, there’s an incentive for Brant to low-ball his value now. In court he’s also expected to battle over Stephanie’s monthly spending, which is claimed to be about $250,000 a month.
Rich people have such suffer in such absurd ways.
The art has been a major point of contempt for the couple. She claims he’s been selling it without her permission, he claims the same: that she’s been moving it out of the house through a hole in the fence.
There is one piece of art that will, ironically, remain his. A Maurizio Cattelan bust of his wife that friends jokingly called “The Trophy.”
Although it’s probably really beautiful, it’s odd that looking at it wouldn’t pain him too much after this messy divorce battle.
