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Topics: Celebrity, Sex and Relationships, Money, Parenting
Jess Battison
Topics: Celebrity, Sex and Relationships, Money, Parenting
Kevin Costner has been ordered to pay Christine Baumgartner ‘£50k in child support’.
After 18 years of marriage, Baumgartner filed for divorce from the Yellowstone actor in May 2023.
The pair share three teenage children together and have been locked in legal battles for the past few months.
Back in July, Judge Thomas Anderle made a tentative ruling for Costner to pay half of the amount Baumgartner requested - $129,755 (£103,086).
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The handbag designer had wanted a whopping $248,000 (£197,028) from the actor who claimed a more ‘reasonable amount would be $51,940 (£41,264) a month.
However, a judge has now totally slashed the amount down to $63,000 (£50,051) a month - less than half of what she’s been receiving.
This judgement came after two days of hearings, during which each side laid out what they believed to be a fair sum.
Despite it proving closer to what he wanted, Costner said there had been ‘no winners’.
He told Fox News Digital: “You know, when you have a life that long with somebody, there is no winner... and it's this big, crazy thing called life and how it unravels so quickly.
“One minute you feel like you're on top of the world, and then you realise how, you know, how vulnerable you are.”
The Bodyguard actor took to the stand in the hearing’s final stages, where he claimed he didn’t want an ‘inflated’ level of child support to mean he was forced to work on projects he didn’t want to do.
Costner told the court: “I want to help but the thought of having things inflated to the point I can't do what I want to do…
"Somehow in this unusual world, we didn't make it and for that, I'm sorry."
The actor added of Baumgartner: “She's an incredible mom. We will figure it out and we'll share. We just got to kind of convalesce right now."
Judge Thomas Anderle decided the woman’s subsequent request for $169,000 (£134,265) a month was above what their three children would ‘reasonably need’.
Her team had argued her $40,000 (£31,778) a month property was 'not comparable' to Costner's $73m (£58m) beachside home. They said that the children should spend time at the $150,000 (£119,170) a month beachside home she was hoping to rent once the lease was up.
Their claims also included that because Baumgartner's property doesn’t have an ocean view, it represents a fall in the standard of living from the family home.
The pair had previously signed a prenuptial agreement agreeing to a payment of $1.5 million (£1.1m) to Baumgartner, which she has already received.
A further hearing has been set for November.