Supermodel Linda Evangelista’s billionaire baby daddy is raking in even more big bucks while paying her zilch in child support.
Good investments may have just made Evangelista’s former lover François-Henri Pinault the world’s richest, deadbeat dad — and could boost her argument in Manhattan Family Court that the Frenchman should cough up $46,000 per month in child support for their 4-year-old son, Augustin James.
Pinault — who also has a 3-year-old daughter, Valentina, with actress-wife Salma Hayek, 44 — hasn’t paid Evangelista a dime since their love child was born in 2007.
But in recent months, while he’s been trying to hash out a child-support deal with 46-year-old stunner Evangelista, Pinault’s ownership shareholdings in his French luxury-goods conglomerate PPR have grown by nearly $200 million because of a jump in its stock price, according to financial records.
At the same time, Pinault, 49, has been forking over $50,000 per month in upkeep and other expenses for the $20 million, 7,500-square-foot Los Angeles home that he bought in 2007.
Meanwhile, Evangelista’s lawyer, William Beslow, said Pinault — whose company owns Gucci, Yves St. Lauren and Bottega Veneta — has “just been sitting back, paying zero” toward supporting Augustin James.
When Support Magistrate Matthew Troy asked Beslow why Evangelista only recently filed a court action seeking money, Beslow said Pinault asked her not to go to court because he wanted to keep things “secret.”