Supermodel Linda Evangelista and the billionaire father of her five-year-old son have settled their bitter child support battle - over the phone.
The surprise settlement, revealed by a source to The New York Post, comes three days into the court scrap that revealed some of the uglier truths about the former couple's four-month relationship.
In the first two days on the witness stand, Francois-Henri Pinault, who is now married to actress Salma Hayek, revealed he broke up with Evangelista when he discovered she was pregnant.
Evangelista's lawyer also claimed the Frenchman, who is heir to a staggering $11.5 billion family estate, had demanded the supermodel have an abortion as he did not want the child.
It is not clear whether Evangelista has won the $46,000 a month she expected Pinault to pay for their son, with the source only claiming he had 'gone a long way toward meeting those original demands'.
The court battle, which began last Thursday, has focused on the care of five-year-old Augie, who was conceived during his parents short-lived relationship in 2005 and 2006.
His supermodel mother had said the boy's care - including around-the-clock nannies and armed drivers - cost her $46,000 a month, and she wanted Pinault to cover the hefty bills.
Evangelista's lawyer William Beslow had also argued that Augie deserves a lifestyle similar to that of Pinault's four-year-old daughter with Hayek, born just months after Augie.
Pinault, 49, is heir to a family estate estimated at $11.5billion. As chief executive of PPR, the conglomerate that owns Yves Saint Laurent, Gucci and Bottega Veneta, he earns $5million a year.
He spends $50,000 a month just on the taxes, upkeep and loan payments for the $12million Los Angeles home he's put in trust for the girl, Valentina, the Post reported.
And taking the witness stand, he revealed he spent a staggering $260,000 on gifts for himself in 2010 - but could not remember what he had bought his son or how much he had spent on him.
'I have a watch collection,' he said, the New York Post reported. 'It's for when I buy a watch for me.'
He went on: 'I bought him a present for his birthday and for Christmas,' yet admitted he could not remember what he bought Augie for his fourth birthday.
And for Christmas: 'I bought it online. It was a piano thing.'
Despite his wealth, Pinault had criticised Evangelista for her outlandish demands, suggesting the $46,000 a month is in fact for 'mom support'.
She has maintained she is modelling or working on her image at all hours of the day.
'Most of the expenses do not relate to Augie but they relate to Ms. Evangelista,' Pinault's lawyer, David Aronson, said in opening statements on Thursday.
'It is the classic case of someone trying to bootstrap herself to something that is alimony.'
Ahead of the settlement on Monday, Evangelista was pictured with her son Augie and ex-boyfriend Hard Rock Cafe co-founder Peter Morton, from whom she broke up last year
Also at the trial on Thursday, Evangelista's lawyer recounted a conversation the former couple shared in January 2006.
'After some initial happiness, he told her he wished she would terminate the pregnancy,' Beslow told a support magistrate.
Evangelista, who was then in her early 40s, told Pinault she would keep the baby. Pinault revealed the couple had spent just seven days together in four months when she made the announcement.
'She would support the child herself, since he had made it perfectly clear to her that he had no interest in doing so. And she did.'
Pinault said he found out she was pregnant in early 2006 and admitted he broke up with her on hearing the news.
'She was so happy to be pregnant,' he said. 'But it was not planned. I decided to stop the relationship at that point.' He added: 'We were dating four months and I didn't even know her very much.'
Asked why he didn’t pay Evangelista anything in child support for the first years of Augie's life, Pinault answered: 'She didn’t ask and I didn’t offer.'
It also emerged on Friday that he had asked his former girlfriend to delay the process of legally recognising Augie as his son as his wife Hayek was going through a difficult pregnancy.
'We were told the baby had Down syndrome until late May 2007,' Pinault said, adding that Hayek, then 41, almost lost their daughter Valentina.
Evangelista agreed to delay the process and he was grateful, the New York Post reported.
Although she was accused of piggybacking on Pinault's lifestyle, Evanglista's lawyer said she was 'looking for a continuation of the reasonable lifestyle of Augie'.
'I need to protect him,' Evangelista told Love magazine in February.
Last year a judge questioned the model's need for full-time nannies, asking how often she worked.
'When I work, it can be a 16-hour day,' she said. 'On days when I do not work, I am working on my image. I have to hit the gym. I have beauty appointments. I have to work toward my next job and maintaining my image, just like an athlete.'
Last week, Manhattan divorce lawyer Raoul Felder said the eye-watering payout - which comes to $1,500 a day - was unlikely.
He pointed out that judges consider how much it costs to care for a child, rather than the wealth of the parents.
'She’s in for a big surprise. I wouldn’t be counting the money yet,' he told the New York Daily News.
Evangeista is worth $8million and owns a penthouse in Chelsea, New York and an apartment near her son’s school on the Upper East Side.
She broke up with billionaire and Hard Rock Cafe co-founder Peter Morton last year and filed her case against Pinault shortly after the break up.
Pinault and Evangelista dated from September 2005 until January 2006, and she was pregnant with Augie when Pinault began dating Hayek in April 2006. He and Hayek married in 2009.
Evangelista had kept the name of Augie's father secret until it was written in court papers filed in August.
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