NEW YORK - When supermodel Linda
Evangelista told French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault in 2006 she was
pregnant with his child, he asked her to get an abortion, her attorney charged
Thursday on the first day of a child-support trial in Manhattan.
Evangelista is taking Pinault to
court to ensure that he pays for child-rearing expenses. The model is
reportedly requesting nearly $50,000 a month, a sum that includes expenses like
armed bodyguards, a 24 hour nanny as well as other costs, according to the
Associated Press.
The trial is
offering a public glimpse into the lives of the boldface and beautiful, from
the vagaries of a modeling career to the peripatetic lifestyle of a movie
star's child. The first day of testimony included a detailed description of a
$12 million mansion and Pinault discussing his brief breakup with Hayek before
their 2009 marriage.
Evangelista,
the 1980s and 1990s magazine-cover fixture who famously quipped that
supermodels "don't wake up for less than $10,000 a day," looked on
with somewhat anguished poise in a demure black knee-length skirt,
flower-patterned blouse and tan stiletto pumps.
Evangelista,
46, is a former supermodel who donned the covers of hundreds of magazines
during the 1980s and 1990s. Pinault, 49, is the chief executive of a company
called PPR, which owns luxury brands like Gucci and Yves St. Laurent.
"She
told me that if I didn't want to be involved in raising the kid or stay
together and be parents together, she would understand, and she will take care
of the kid," Pinault testified on Thursday. "I told her that I would
recognize the baby ... and I will take my responsibility."
Previously,
Evangelista paid all the expenses for her son's life. However, when her
contract for L'Oreal ended last year, her estimated $1.8 million-a-year salary
took a financial hit.
Evangelista's
lawyer, William Beslow, told the court on Thursday, "It became necessary
for her to go to the bullpen and ask the father for help." He added his
client was "not looking to piggyback the lifestyle of Mr. Pinault."
"I'm
not going to pay money I'm not asked for," Pinault said.
His and
Hayek's 4-year-old daughter, Valentina, meanwhile, has been taken on a
$52,000-plus 12-day vacation to Bora Bora and has a $12 million Los Angeles
home in a trust for her — a step Pinault said he took to reassure Hayek she and
the girl would have a home if the couple parted. A brief premarital split in 2008
"created a high level of anxiety to my wife," he explained.
Evangelista
was expected to testify later in the trial. At the end, the judge will make a
ruling that the couple could accept or ask to be reconsidered.
