Kevin Costner, Christine Baumgartner reach divorce settlement
Kevin Costner and Christine Baumgartner share three teenage children. Credit: Getty Images for Vanity Fair / Rich Fury
Following months of contentious of divorce proceedings, Academy Award winner Kevin Costner and Christine Baumgartner, his wife of 18 years, have reached a settlement.
"Kevin and Christine Costner have come to an amicable and mutually agreed upon resolution of all issues pertaining to their divorce proceedings," the actor’s representative said in a joint statement from the former couple Tuesday.
TMZ.com was first to report what it said was a three-page settlement letter.
Earlier this month, Judge Thomas P. Anderle of the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Barbara, had ruled that Costner will pay $63,209 monthly support for the couple’s three children, sons Cayden, 16, and Hayes, 14, and daughter Grace, 13. Baumgartner had requested $161,592 per month, according to court documents obtained by multiple news outlets.
In the cited documents, Anderle acknowledged that Costner, who had testified in the two-day hearing, “is a professional actor.” The judge "weighed that in the decision-making process when judging his credibility” and "did not find he embellished any of his testimony by relying on his profession; his testimony was straightforward; there was 'no acting'; found his testimony to be credible and consistent."
The judge’s ruling went on to say that any amount beyond the $63,209 monthly child support would be "disguised spousal support.” Baumgartner “will have her opportunity to convince the Court that she is entitled to spousal support. That is not the issue at hand for this hearing." Adding that he "did not perceive there was any intention by [Baumgartner] to mislead the Court," her testimony "was not much help on the issue before the bench today; will weigh her testimony with all the evidence in this case."
Baumgartner, 49, on May 1 had filed to divorce Costner, 68, who won a directing Oscar and, as a producer, a best picture Oscar for his 1990 Western epic “Dances with Wolves.” They had married Sept. 25, 2004, in Colorado.
Costner was married from 1978 to 1994 to Cindy Silva, with whom he has three adult children: daughters Annie and Lily and son Joe. He additionally has an adult son, Liam, from a relationship with socialite Bridget Rooney.
Neither Costner nor Baumgartner have commented publicly on the settlement.
