Kevin Costner opened up about his tumultuous divorce from Christine Baumgartner on Monday morning, hinting at the personal struggles he’s faced during a candid appearance on The View.
The 69-year-old Hollywood actor, who separated from his wife of 19 years in May 2023, shared how he has been navigating these ‘tough times’ and admitted to feeling ‘bruised’ by life’s challenges.
Discussing his role as a ‘single father’ to the three teenage children he shares with Christine, 50, Kevin described them as ‘really good kids.’
When panelist Sara Haines asked how he handles life when ‘stuff hits the fan,’ the Oscar winner reflected on the life lessons movies can teach us.
“I don’t want to circle this back to movies, but I will for a second,” Kevin began. “For as phony as they are, and as moving and funny as they can be, there’s a lot of life lessons in movies. Because we know who the bad guys are, we see it, we know who the buffoons are, and we know what it is to be noble, even in defeat. And so when you go to the movies, you can see who you want to be.”
He continued, “I’ve had life take some bites out of me, and I have to look at myself as a movie. I know I’m just a person, but who am I going to be? One of the things I need to do is maybe not think about myself too much. These tough times have been more a moment for me to look outward and make sure the people around me are all right.
© Getty Images“Because I know I’m bruised, I know where I’m at. I’ve been really lucky in my life. That doesn’t mean I haven’t been bruised; life has taken some really big bites out of me, and I think I know who I want to be in the movies, and I think I know who I need to be in my life.”
Kevin shares his three youngest children, Cayden Wyatt, 17, Hayes Logan, 15, and Grace Avery, 14, with Christine. During the show, co-host Sunny Hostin was eager to hear what it’s like raising three teenagers simultaneously.
© Getty Images“Well, you would be shocked, but my life is very much like yours,” Kevin quipped. “I’m living on a freeway, I think I’m an Uber driver… I might as well be one,” he joked, before adding more seriously, “I’m a single father… that wasn’t how I drew it, but that’s where it is. I love to see them succeed. I’ve loved playing with them since they were little, and now I’m watching them actually talk to me about things. There’s that shift… My life isn’t any different. They have their ups and downs, but they’re really good kids, and I feel lucky.”
Just hours earlier, Kevin teased a possible return to Yellowstone during an interview with Savannah Guthrie on Today.
© Jeff KravitzThe Waterworld star also shares three adult children — Annie, 40, Lily, 37, and Joe, 36 — with his ex-wife Cindy Silva, as well as son Liam, 26, with former partner Bridget Rooney.
In a recent interview with GQ, Kevin opened up further about his split from Christine, weighing in on the gravity of the situation and how he manages his professional and personal life. “
© Getty ImagesSo much. Very serious stuff,” he said. “And those things are very important. I have to deal with them. And I have to deal with them on a daily basis, emotionally, historically almost. And then there’s the immediate needs of children. That is my job, looking at that and dealing with that.”
In September 2023, Kevin scored a victory in his divorce battle when a judge reduced Christine’s child support payments to $63,000 per month, less than half of the $129,000 she was receiving and considerably less than the $161,000 she wanted. Following the verdict, Kevin remarked, “There are no winners in this bruising battle.”
“When you have a life that long with somebody, there is no winner,” he told Fox News Digital. “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 realize how vulnerable you are.”
