Going through a divorce is rarely pleasant for anyone, but it can get especially messy when kids are involved. That seems to be the case with Kevin Costner and ex Christine Baumgartner, who filed for divorce on May 3. In new court documents, the handbag designer isn’t very happy with the way the Yellowstone star told their kids, Grace, 13, Hayes, 14, and Cayden, 16, about the divorce.
Court Documents Show What Happened
Costner told the kids about the divorce in an impersonal way: via a short Zoom call while he was filming in Las Vegas.
“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,” Baumgartner said in court documents obtained by PEOPLE. “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.”
She added, “He also could have easily come home from Las Vegas to have the conversation in person.”
Kevin Costner Reportedly ‘Disregarded” Christine Baumgartner’s Request
In the documents, Baumgartner explained that she had talked to Costner about telling the kids about the divorce together. “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,” she said in the court documents.
Despite Baumgartner reportedly telling Costner that she worried the kids would hear about their parents’ divorce through an “outside source” — and sharing “several articles about the importance of talking to the children as a united front” with him — Costner went ahead and told the kids without her.
“He disregarded my proposal to do what I felt was right based on research and my relationship with the children,” she continued. “Instead, he insisted that he had the right to tell them that we were getting divorced ‘first’ and tell them privately ‘without me present.’”
We completely get why she would be upset if this is how it went down. Going behind her back to tell the kids without her seems petty — and a sure way to hurt the kids.
Christine Baumgartner Requests $248,000 in Child Support
