When Christie Brinkley found out her husband was cheating, she says it "nearly broke her." The iconic Sports Illustrated model recently opened up to Social Life Magazine about one of the hardest moments in her life—discovering her fourth husband’s affair.

Brinkley, now 71, is back in the spotlight thanks to her memoir Uptown Girl, which dives deep into both the highs and lows of her life. While recording the audiobook version, she found herself reliving painful memories. “There were parts where I thought, ‘Please don’t cry,’” she shared. “I tried to keep [my voice] level, but [the publisher] let me be. Let my voice crack. Let it show.”

One of the most emotional chapters describes how she learned about her fourth husband, Peter Cook’s, infidelity. In 2006, Brinkley was giving a commencement speech when a man approached her with news that hit her “with the weight of a wrecking ball, delivered in barely a whisper.” At first, she didn’t believe it. But as she looked at her husband—and then at her son Jack’s panicked face—she knew something was terribly wrong.

“I looked out into the crowd,” she said. “I saw mouths agape. They all knew... I felt faint, exposed… like the floor might drop beneath me.”

The man didn’t have a business card but told her, “I’m a cop at the Southampton station.” Later, Brinkley would discover that the officer was the father of the 18-year-old girl involved with her husband.

Back home, friends encouraged her to search the family computer. “It was like something out of Charlie’s Angels,” she wrote. What they found shocked her: “A creepy labyrinth of files and photos,” and emails that revealed even more betrayal. “It was so insane that it was almost funny,” she added. “Soon enough, the three of us were doubled over in laughter, as printouts... piled up on the floor faster than trash outside a greasy takeaway.”

Brinkley and Cook’s divorce turned into a six-year media circus. But for her, it was about one thing—protecting her kids. “A mother fighting to protect her cubs,” Social Life described it.

Today, Christie finds peace in her garden. “We’re not salon blondes. We’re hands-in-the-dirt women. We bloom in the garden,” she said, comparing herself to Pamela Anderson, who also found new strength in recent years.

And yes, Christie still believes in love. “I find that love is the strongest thing in the whole world,” she told Fox News Digital. “I love love – I feel like my life is so full of love.”

Whether or not romantic love finds her again, she says she’s content. “I consider my life to be very full of love.”