Kevin Costner has made several appearances in the news for behind-the-scenes work conflicts however, the instance of his popularity this time includes his marriage.
In a move that the celebrity did not anticipate, his wife and celebrity designer, Christine Baumgartner, filed for divorce early this May. The 68-year-old “Yellowstar” actor was surprised by the “unexpected course of action [and] still wants to make his marriage work. In what he conceived as a happy marriage of eighteen years, Costner sees this as his ‘worst nightmare’,” according to sources.
Costner’s Work Balance Breaks His Marriage
Outside sources have cited Christine’s decision as a result of his lack of attention to family time. Apparently, the actor’s habit of work over home life is not a surprise to his wife. In previous years Christine Costner, while popular for his attitude and presence as John Dutton in the Yellowstone series, also dedicates his time off from filming to another project. The source states:
Christine wants them to spend family time at their Santa Barbara home — During filming, Kevin is not around very much. His absence has been very hard for her.
Instead of reducing his work hours that would have been dedicated to the filming of “Yellowstone” to spend it with his family, he instead put it into his personal project, “Horizon.” On paper, Christine cites the divorce as a result of “irreconcilable differences.”
All of this success and excitement over the new project probably took his attention away from his family more than he realized. Since it didn’t look like that would change and likely could get worse, it caused tension at home.
Family Life
Despite months of discussion with his family before taking the role, it was still a big factor in their divorce. So far, his potential divorce from Baumgartner will be his second divorce if it goes through. His divorce from his first wife, Cindy Silva, also came at a cost to his jam-packed schedule. At the time with three children, Silva took issue with the number of provocative roles Costner did. After the split, Costner has since mentioned how the divorce almost affected his decision to marry Baumgartner.
Because I thought to myself, I could be divorced again, but what I couldn’t be is divorced again with children. That crushed me. I had to kind of face life and go, ‘Are you gonna miss life, are you gonna miss love because you’re afraid?’ And the answer finally came back, ‘I’m not gonna lose her because I’m gonna be afraid.’
Supposedly, the actor’s decision to focus more on Horizon instead of his children was the last straw. With three teenage children together: sons Cayden, and Hayes, and one daughter, Grace, Costner hopes to make his marriage work. Now Costner leaving his role in Yellowstone comes shortly before the show cancels its run after five seasons.
Written by Brielle R. Buford
Sources
The Mercury News: For Kevin Costnar, divorce with kids is his ‘worst nightmare’ as star struggles to save marriage
USWeekly: ‘Blindsided’ Kevin Costnar Is Trying to Win Estranged Wife Christine Baumgartner Back: Details
People: Kevin Costnar’s Work Schedule Was ‘Hard’ on Wife, Says Source: ‘She Wasn’t Happy About It’ (Exclusive)
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Inset Image by NASA/Aubrey Gemignani Courtesy of NASA HQ PHOTO‘s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
