In the midst of Kevin Costner’s professional kerfuffle involving Yellowstone, which led Taylor Sheridan and Paramount Network to call it quits concerning the flagship series, the high-profile actor’s personal life hit its own rough patch in the form of divorce papers filed by to-be-ex-wife Christine Baumgartner. The couple were married for 18 years, with a prenuptial agreement being signed back in 2004. And Baumgartner is apparently in breach of said agreement by allegedly refusing to move out of Costner’s home. What’s more, she’s reportedly stated that she won’t be making any exits unless her financial demands are met.
Radar Online accessed legal documents that show Kevin Costner and his attorney Laura Wasser have asked the court for an order to be issued that can be used to remove Baumgartner from the residence and further keep her from returning at any later point. Costner claims that the initial prenup status included the stipulation that she would leave their former shared home within 30 days of the divorce being filed, but she put the paperwork in on May 1, and it’s clear that more than 30 days have passed in the interim.
According to the paperwork, Christine Baumgartner is supposedly holding out for some kind of money-related incentive before she pulls up anchor and sails away. Here’s how it was worded:
[She has] taken the position that she will not move out of Kevin’s separate property residence unless and until Kevin agrees to various financial demands.
Anyone in breach of legalized marital agreements doesn’t seem like the ideal person to start throwing demands out willy nilly, but this kind of situation is mired in details that may skew differently from one piece of paperwork to the next, depending on who’s filing. Baumgartner may have an entirely different explanation for her extended stay within the residence, and may claim not to have demanded any financial offerings from Costner. But if she did, it should be interesting to see how things play out in court.
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Making things all the more complicated is the fact that Costner is claiming to have made the offer to financially aid Baumgartner in finding a new place to call home. Assuming the above details are indeed legit, it’s possible that the amount of money the Yellowstone star would be willing to provide falls short of what she would be comfortable living with. But what seems clear is that Costner was very up front and specific about residential stipulations within the prenup, as an earlier divorce left him unable to continue living in his desired home, so he wanted to avoid that misfortune ever happening again.
The Oscar winner claims that he’s already been helping her out financially by way of a $1 million payout stipulated by the prenup agreement. The paperwork also states that Costner has paid out child support and other expenses in the time since the divorce was filed, and is also setting up visitation scheduling for their teen children throughout the summer.
Interestingly enough, the paperwork also states that Kevin Costner's current professional commitments will be wrapped up in June 2023, at which point he'd wish to head back into his Carpinteria house sans any ex-wives. But is that timeline accurate? When was the paperwork filed? Costner was busy directing his multi-part western feature epic Horizon throughout the end of last year and the early months of 2023, which he can't wait to bring to audiences, so is that all that's being referred to? Or did he somehow also wrap up the final stretch of episodes in Yellowstone's final season? His stacked schedule was reportedly one of the divorce-sparking factors, so there's probably irony to be found in him returning to an empty home when he's not constantly busy anymore.
However things shake out, Paramount Network appears as if it'll be sticking with its plan to debut the remaining fifth season installments in November, ahead of the premiere of a brand new chapter in the Yellowstone-verse, presumably headed up by Matthew McConaughey.
