Hyperrealist Portrait of Stephanie Seymour
Stephanie Seymour former Playboy and Victoria’s Secret model is divorcing publisher Peter Brant after 16 years of marriage. While we do not have the specifics of Ms. Seymour’s complaints, we do have the meat of Mr. Brant’s. According to the Middletown Press, which references divorce papers filed in Middlesex Superior Court Mr. Brant alleges that Seymour has abused drugs and alcohol, and has been in rehab twice during their marriage, once for alcohol and in 2000 for Vicodin addiction. He claims that Seymour is not in compliance with drug and alcohol tests ordered as part of the divorce proceedings.
Stephanie Seymour is described in Wikipedia like this:
Stephanie M. Seymour (born July 23, 1968) is an American model and actress. Seymour has modeled for many notable fashion magazines and designers, and has been photographed by several well-known photographers including Herb Ritts, Richard Avedon, and Gilles Bensimon. She has appeared on over 300 magazine covers.
Brant was the second married man with which Seymour became involved, the first being John Casablancas who she dated and lived with when she was sixteen. She married briefly in 1989 and divorced in 1990 guitarist Tommy Andres having her first son with him. In mid 1991 she started dating Guns N Roses’ Axl Rose. A scant month after her February 1993 turbulent breakup with Rose, she apparently became pregnant with Brant’s child who was born in December of 1993. The couple married in 1995 in France and have resided in Greenwich, CT since then, having two more children in the ensuing years.
Though Stephanie apparently has kept her hand in the modeling game throughout her marriage, her career had slowed down to the point where a New York Observer article described her as a “supermodel turned homemaker.”
Peter Brant is described as:
a guy who seems to have everything. The New York Times called him “a Donald Trump with taste” for his elegant real estate projects. Brant owns trendy magazines like Interview and Art in America. He co-founded the Greenwich (Conn.) Polo Club and is married to former Playboy and Victoria’s Secret model Stephanie Seymour.
Wikepedia tells us:
Peter Brant is an American newsprint mogul, art collector, and film producer and is the Chairman and C.E.O. of White Birch Paper Company, a private company, headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut.
Brant is also the owner of Brant Publications, Inc., which specialises in publishing about art in America and antiques via its three magazines: Interview magazine (founded by Andy Warhol), Art in America, and The Magazine Antiques.
So what happened between the “man who has everything” and the supermodel? Why are these two in divorce court? What does astrology have to tell us?
For both individuals we have the birth date only, and one birthplace, so we can not consider house or moon placements. Peter Brant’s birth date listed is the result of some sleuthing, coming from a New York Observer article that referenced 2007 birthday party given in Peter Brant’s honor.
Stephanie’s Sun is in the Zodiac sign of Leo, with the planet of beauty, Venus sitting right next to it. With these placements Stephanie would be beautiful, with a magnetic personality that lights up a room. Leo’s want and need to be the center of attention and are well know to be high maintenance for the people involved in their lives.
Her Sun makes an a harmonious energetic connection to the planet of illusions, Neptune. This would make her a natural in front of a camera, of which it would be said “the camera loves her face.” One is tempted, given her tumultuous personal history to sling her Neptune in the Seventh house. With Neptune trine to her Sun, she would have a natural affinity for fairy tales of princesses and princes who sweep them off their feet. Maybe this is how she sees herself. However, that Neptune is in Scorpio, so underneath the fairy tale is dark tale of power and control. With her Sun in easy energetic connection to the planet of power and control, Pluto in Virgo, she is drawn to powerful, magnetic, yet exacting men. With the Sun in the same sextile to Uranus, the men are unusual, unique, independent, and interesting but could also be prone to fits of unexpected bursts of anger.
Peter Brant has his Sun in Pisces, sitting along with his Mercury in the same zodiac sign. Pisces men are so very good at playing the role of white knight, indulging in a fairy tale persona of their own. They can have a “rescuer” mentality, and given the stormy break-up of Seymour from Rose, with lawsuits on both sides, he may have relished being Seymour’s rescuer from a rock ‘n roll legend. His Sun is inconjunct Pluto, which can indicate a personality that can become embroiled in power and control issues and obsessive relationships.
What locks these two together is Brant’s Saturn sitting on top of her Sun. In relationships, with a conjunction like this, the Saturn person feels obligated to take care of the other partner. Brant’s Pluto in the zodiac sign of Leo sits on Seymour’s Venus.
Sakioan and Acker say of this placement:
“. . .The Pluto individual may be jealous and possessive toward the Venus individual and attempt to emotionally mold, control, or remake the Venus individual.”
On top of that what may have been the cold water thrown on the relationship is a differences each partner has in handling wealth. In court documents, Brant claims a monthly income of $400,000 while Seymour has listed expenses of $257,000 a month, with $50,000 of that for clothing. This makes sense for Seymour’s Venus in Leo, who loves to spread it around and have plenty of trendy duds in which to dress, but not for Brant’s Venus in the zodiac sign of Capricorn. Venus in Capricorn people can be tight with a buck, to the point of mean cheapness. Oh, someone with Venus in Capricorn will buy expensive, because quality lasts. I would bet money that Brant has suits from each decade, and recycles them when the style comes back in. He would not understand a constant reshuffling of wardrobe with an unending outflow of resources, just to keep up with the latest trend. With the panic the publishing industry is in with reduced ad revenues, he would naturally be feeling the need to curb expenses. It would be a case of Brant asking “At what price beauty?”
Brant’s claim of Seymour’s drug use is a bid to trade against Connecticut’s option for a fault divorce, “habitual intemperance”. If the Court found such a cause, Seymour would be given a smaller share of the marital assets. Perhaps, he is even trying to prove Seymour is an unfit mother, to gain custody and deny paying her child support.
However, that is unlikely. A stint nine years ago in rehab is hardly going to carry weight in a Family Court. Connecticut’s total emphasis is for mediated resolution to dissolution of marriages, urging participants to put aside personal issues and focus on equitable division of assets and the good and welfare of the children. The Courts are much more sympathetic to parents who put the interests of the children first. This includes not spending time fighting over the dollars and cents and past conduct the court has no interest in hearing.
Transiting Uranus is opposite Seymour’s Uranus, a traditional time to seek a divorce. Uranus is conjunct Brant’s Sun conjunct Mercury, so it is evident there is not going to be a reconciliation. If both were smart, they would employ some post marital counseling to put a period on this relationship and get things settled between them. As it stands now, the only people who are going to make out are the lawyers. Neither one is going to get as much as they feel they deserve and the children need two parents that can participate in their care.
Photo published under a Creative Commons License from Flickr.
