(Cover) - EN Showbiz - Linda Evangelista has asked Franois-Henri Pinault for $46,000 a month in child support.
The supermodel is mother to four-year-old son Augustin James, but refused to be drawn on who his father was following the birth. Last month she filed court papers in New York in a bid to agree a support settlement and they named the child's father as French businessman Pinault. He is married to Salma Hayek and they have three-year-old daughter Valentina Paloma together.
Pinault is the chief executive officer of PPR, the luxury goods company which owns fashion labels Bottega Veneta, Yves Saint Laurent and Gucci and comes from a billionaire family. According to New York Post Evangelista filed paperwork requesting $46,000 a month in support yesterday.
"That would probably be the largest support order in the history of the Family Court," Support Magistrate Matthew Troy told the publication.
The pair are due in Family Court next month when a figure will be decided upon.
It's been reported Evangelista's attorney William Beslow has argued Pinault lavishes Valentina Paloma with presents and also spends money on a Los Angeles mansion for her to inherit when she's older, but doesn't treat Augustin James in the same way.
"He's just been sitting back, paying zero," Beslow told the court, according to the newspaper.
Evangelista, 46, has requested the sum to help pay nannies' wages and for drivers for her son. Pinault's legal team have apparently questioned why she pays for ex-policemen to work as her chauffeurs at a cost of $175,000 annually, and are also unhappy with her request for $80,000 to pay for a nanny.
"She testified that she wants to have a 24-hour nanny because she does not want to be alone with the child Miss Evangelista, you should understand, has a worth of more than $8 million, and she earned, last year, $1.8 million," David Aaronson, Pinault's attorney, said in court.
Evangelista was then quizzed about her working week, and responded: "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."
The model and both legal teams did not comment after the court session. (C) Cover Media