As previously reported, Kevin Costner is leaving Yellowstone.
This came as surprising news several weeks ago because Costner is the lead actor on that wildly popular drama.
And yet… this break-up isn’t the most shocking and/or contentious split consuming Costner’s life at the moment.
And that’s because Christine Baumgartner is looking to make her estranged husband’s life as miserable as possible.
The spouses got married in 2004 and Baumgartner filed for divorce in May.
“It is with great sadness that circumstances beyond his control have transpired which have resulted in Mr. Costner having to participate in a dissolution of marriage action,” a statement from the actor’s rep read at the time.
“We ask that his, Christine’s, and their children’s privacy be respected as they navigate this difficult time.”
Shortly after this news broke, we learned that Baumgartner was refusing to move out of the home she shares with Costner.
Sources claimed this spring that Baumgartner took extreme issue with Costner’s filming schedule on Yellowstone, which is ironic because that show made Costner a VERY rich man.
The actor them claimed in court documents this month that his wife withdrew “from my bank account and charged on my credit card a total of $95,000, payable to her divorce attorneys and forensic accountant.”
He said she’s been essentially stealing from him since April.
Moreover, according to the veteran actor, Baumgartner has been stationed in the ex-couple’s residence to make him comply with “various financial demands.”
He acknowledged that he could “contribute as part of his child support obligations $30K per month for a rental house and is willing to advance another $10K for her moving costs.”
Now, meanwhile, via a legal filing of her own, the former model is seeking $248,000 per month in child support.
In the filing, Christine alleges that this figure “is less than the amount needed to maintain the children in their accustomed lifestyle” and is requesting that Costner also pay the entirety of private-school tuition, extracurricular activities/sports and health-care expenses for their three kids:
Cayden, 16, Hayes, 14, and Grace, 13.
Sort of makes one wonder what the child support payments will be going to, doesn’t it?
These documents state that Costner’s 2022 income was listed at $19,517,0641 and their family’s expenses, not including taxes, were listed at $6,645,285.
The net income for the family, considering all expenses and taxes, was $7,595,520.
Some of the expenses listed include regular travel to the Caribbean, Hawaii, and Aspen, and regular entertaining of guests, requiring caterers or chefs.
In addition, the upkeep of their several large properties costs about $2 million a year.
Elsewhere in her court documents, Baumgartner says Costner told the pair’s children about the divorce in a brief Zoom call while he was filming on location in Las Vegas.
“The children’s welfare has always been my highest priority, and I was concerned they would find out about the divorce before Kevin and I could tell them.
It was important for me that we tell the children in person and together,” Christine alleges in the documents.
She says she expressed her concerns with Costner that the kids would hear the news through an “outside source,” shared “several articles about the importance of talking to the children as a united front” and believed they would go about it together.
Continued Christine on the actor:
“He disregarded my proposal to do what I felt was right based on research and my relationship with the children. Instead, he insisted that he had the right to tell them that we were getting divorced ‘first’ and tell them privately ‘without me present.’
“After a 24-year relationship, from his hotel room in Las Vegas, Kevin told our three children that we were getting divorced over a 10-minute Zoom call without me present.
“I am still confused by his motivation to do this via a very short Zoom session, especially since he was planning on being home five days later.
“He also could have easily come home from Las Vegas to have the conversation in person.”