Celebrity Mound

Supermodel Stephanie Seymour has spoken out about the fuss surrounding beach shots of her hugging and kissing her son, insisting the drama has been blown out of proportion.

The beauty had no idea she and her teenage son, Peter, were being photographed as they frolicked on the beach in St. Barts during a recent winter getaway.

The shots, which have since graced the pages of New York’s leading newspapers, show the 18 year old passionately kissing his mom on the lips, while resting a hand on her breast.

In other pictures, mother and son can be seen playing around on the sand and in the water in similar compromising positions.

Seymour was horrified when the pictures went public, but she was even more upset when her model son released a statement about the controversy.

He said, “I would just like to say that these pictures have been taken completely out of context. My mother and I are very close, as she is with all her children. She often hugs and kisses me and my siblings in a manner that is intimate. Any mother in the world does the same.”

Noting that he’s “openly gay”, Brant added, “At my age, my mother and I are almost like friends and I feel open to talk to her about anything (and yes our relationship may be different because of my sexuality).”

But his mother was far from happy he’d decided to respond to the tabloid taunting without consulting her first.

She says, “He did this without my knowledge… I could have helped him. I believe in ignoring all that nonsense… He took it upon himself and I think he felt like he had to defend his mommy.”

At least until her nasty divorce from polo-playing pony breeder Peter Brant is finalized. A Connecticut judge ordered Brant to start coughing up the dough last week.

According to the Connecticut Post, the court also cited his continued fury over his wife’s thorough bred spending habits. Brant, who nets an estimated $1.55 million a month, has complained he can’t fathom why Seymour pays retail at Bergdorf’s, when she could get by with discounted duds from family pal Azzedine Alaia.

(source)

Supermodel Stephanie Seymour is getting divorced from her polo-playing husband Peter Brant after 16 years of marriage and three children — but they are still living under the same roof in the marital mansion in Greenwich, Conn.

“It’s OK. I’m sleeping in the maid’s quarters,” Seymour told a friend. “I’m doing the best I can to keep things amicable. I want to be the bigger person. But it’s tough. He’s playing very dirty with me.”

Seymour — a top model since she was 16 and dating Elite Models boss John Casablancas — was a Victoria’s Secret Angel and a Sports Illustrated swimsuit pinup. She dated Axl Rose in the early 1990s and starred in two Guns N’ Roses videos before meeting Brant, who was married and had five children.

Brant — who collects art, owns thoroughbred racehorses and publishes Interview and Art in America magazines — made his fortune with his White Birch Paper Co., which operates six pulp and paper mills. Brant was jailed briefly for tax evasion in 1990.

Fiercely competitive on the polo field, Brant is also playing for keeps since Seymour filed for divorce two months ago. A friend said she has come home to discover the locks had been changed.

The parties are due in court in Greenwich on Monday, and the litigation is expected to be bitter, with Brant challenging her for custody of their three children — Peter Jr., 15, Harry, 12, and Lilly, 4 — by accusing Seymour of being an unfit mother.

“He’s got the children involved, and it’s not fair to them,” said a friend of Seymour’s. “She’s a big girl and she can take care of herself, but when it comes to her kids, I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Seymour declined to comment, and her lawyer Tom Colin didn’t get back to us. An executive at the White Birch Paper Co. told us Brant “is not available.”

(source)